


It's The Avengers Season 2 (Loki x Reader)

by MaladaptiveNinjaReturns



Series: It's The Avengers [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aliens, Angry Loki (Marvel), F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Outer Space, Overprotective Tony, Romantic Fluff, Shapeshifting, Worried Loki (Marvel), ant, overprotective Clint, puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2019-12-06 20:07:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 57,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaladaptiveNinjaReturns/pseuds/MaladaptiveNinjaReturns
Summary: Sorry for the delay. First my laptop broke down. Then I had to go somewhere that was not home. The I got sick at the new place. So...yeah.





	1. Episode 1: You, Me & V Part I

**Scott’s voiceover:**

_This is the story of a man, who actually wasn’t just a man. He was so much more._

The camera cuts to showing Loki first entering the Avenger’s facility with Thor

_Misunderstood, misinterpreted, taken for granted even, he had never known what love and compassion looked like. Until he first laid eyes on his beautiful girl._

Footage of Loki meeting you for the first time in the lounge. No greetings were exchanged as you had hurriedly told him to hold Zuko for you so that you could warm his milk and all he had done was look at you with utter malice but held the little puppy, though at an arm’s distance, till you came back.

_Her presence changed his entire world. Now, everything existed around her. His entire universe revolved around her. Everything he did, was for her._

Camera cuts to the footage of Loki grabbing your tea mug without permission, eating the last chocolate chip cookie on your plate, watching with measured suspicion as you made him some tea and even gifted him a mug of his own- something which he never used but was always happy to eat or drink whatever you made, from your plate and mugs, of course.

_And all of this was going really smoothly until the latent evil sorcerer struck down its wrath upon their relationship._

Another cut of Loki taking out your adoption papers and turning into Tony before showing them to you, making you question your entire existence till that every moment.

_All the wonderful strings that once joined them together now had come undone, one by one._

The camera again cuts to your figure, coming out of the library after confronting Loki, with tears in your eyes as you threw a small bouquet of flowers- you’d made for him as a note of thanks for effortlessly turning your idea of the wedding arch into a reality- into the nearest trash can that you passed.

Footage from the facility’s camera showing the front view of Jim striking you unconscious, watching you lay out cold on the floor, taking your form in through his mad eyes before dragging you inside Tony’s office.

_And the magician, hurting as he was, did not know what to do except using everything in his power to redeem himself in her eyes._

The camera shows Loki asking Peter’s help with something, who in turn goes to Wanda for assistance and comes back with a list for the God, who ultimately finds something worthy of you but leaves it on his bed, the gift never reaching you.

The footage cuts to Jim running out of Tony’s office, pale and filled with fear only to run smack into Loki, who presents himself in front of him, tackling him to the floor before dragging him up by his collar and throwing him off the railing down to the ground because Natasha yelled ‘Loki! No killing today!’ when he took out his most lethal dagger out of a pocket dimension, ready to impale him without a second thought.

_Well, she’s gone for now. Leaving the magician with a broken heart and the evil sorcerer with a huge ego. Stupid sorcerer supreme._

**Scott** : _*focuses back on the camera after the anger leaves him* what? What do you mean what am I talking about? I’m talking about the inevitable war going on between me and Strange._

Another footage of Cassie introducing himself to Stephen, who kneels down to properly shake her hand.

“Nice to meet you Cassie,” Strange states as he passes her a warm smile.

“You too, Doctor Strange. Also, don’t be mad at my dad. It may seem like he doesn’t like you but he really admires your magic. Keep that in mind next time he asks you for a duel,” Cassie responds, making Stephen tilt his head in amusement at the little one.

“I will! You are a really sensible girl, Cassie,” Steven exclaimed, “and a wonderful daughter!”

Cassie smiles and the camera catches Scott at a distance behind the two of them, stopping in his tracks as he witnesses his daughter hug Strange before saying, “And you are a wonderful wizard!” Making the Ant-Man’s face drop all the bright colours.

_*looks back at the camera and frowns* Wait. Who did you think I was talking about?_

The deadly silence brings a ringing into the ears in the lounge where Clint, Loki, Scott and Stephen stand while Peter and May sit in silence as the assassin eyes the God of Mischief with a blank yet malignant stare. Scott tries to do the same with Stephen, who is not even paying attention to the people in the room as he stares into the fireplace. Peter and May uncomfortably watch the standoff from where they sit on the sofas.

**May** : _Oh, I’m just staying the night here. Steph-I mean Dr Strange offered me a short portal ride back to my place *smiles as she remembers the conversation* and we were about to leave when Barton came asking for Loki. *scrunches her face in worry* Yeah, stuff’s about to go down._

“Umm,” Peter’s frail voice broke the numbing silence, “guys? I think we should go look for her. It’s nearly three in the morning and the forest road from here to the city outskirts is not that safe.”

**Peter:** _For her. Not safe for Y/N because she’s a normal human being, you know. *shrugs* *camera zooms in on to his blinking eyes*_

_*exhales in defeat* There was this huge rabbit that came out of nowhere once it almost gave me a heart attack! I swear it was huge! With red eyes!_

_*whispers wide-eyed* huge!_

“The boy’s right. I’ll ask Wong to locate h-”

“No need,” Clint finally spoke, still not ready to break his stare away from Loki, who was still in his suit, missing the jacket, standing without a crease of worry on his face, looking into oblivion with his arms crossed across his chest, “I know where she would’ve gone.”

“I’m coming with you.”

Loki’s words made all heads spin- save Stephen’s, whose eyes just flicked for a moment at the turn the mute discussion had just taken.

Before Clint could unclench his tense jaw and say something to Loki, May got up.

“Of course you’ll go help look for her!” She exclaimed, somehow surprised at her own words. “Apologise to her face to face. She deserves that.”

Scott finally looked away from the doctor and saw Clint ease up a bit at May’s words.

“I-I’m coming too,” Peter nearly jumped up, “if Aunt May is okay with it?” His voice trailed off as he looked at her with his signature puppy eyes.

“Yeah. Yeah. Go.”

**May** : _Peter is legit the only sane person in the room right now. And if an assassin and a freaking God of Mischief who can kill each other within a blink of an eye are going to travel together, I should really not be sending my nephew with them but Scott promised me he’ll take care of him. *nods head in reassurance*_

_*smile turns into a plastered emotion* Scott is the same person who’s having a cold war with Stephen because he heard his daughter compliment the wizard. *worry rushes over her brows with the smile still plastered*_

_I feel like I should be worried about Peter and Scott?_

_*stands up and starts calling someone as she moves out of the room*_

“Hey! It’s me, May. Yeah, I know I may be the last person you want to hear this from but…” is heard as she walks out.

**Peter:** _*standing in the Dorm’s corridor* This is the reason I’ve decided to bring Aunt May to the compound more often. So she can finally see how great these people are. How well they gel together and respect the hell out of each other. *smiles*_

_Meanwhile, in the background, Clint and Loki are walking in his direction. “We’re leaving in five,” Clint orders, “anyone not sitting in the car by the fifth minute can portal their ass to the Atlantic.”_

**Peter** : _*wide, scared eyes watch Clint walk away as Loki rolls his eyes and enters his room* *turns back to the camera and passes a weak smile* That’s Mr Barton’s way of showing respect. M-mad respect. *nods matter-of-factly*_

_*all cheeriness disappears* I should probably go sit in the car *walks and out of the Dorm in a hurry*_

**At the City outskirts near a Bus Stop**

A small tavern with an entire line of bikes marked the parking in front of it as rock music was heard outside and typical bikers along with a few emo goths came in and out. One could see the late night travellers at the side of the lit bus stop-cum-gas station looking at the tavern crowd with curiosity, disgust, amusement or just blank stares. But amongst all the soft mayhem, the focus was turned on your figure in blue jeans and a jacket with the hoodie over your head as you talked to someone over the phone.

“How long till you arrive, V?”

You casually kicked the free rocks off the broken road while two distant figures- who turned out to be two biker men in their late thirties- came in your direction as you were hearing whatever the person in the other end of the call was telling you with a hint of frustration.

“Okay, fine. Twenty more minutes and then I’m leaving you here,” you snap before ending the call and jumping at the sight of the pair of men standing next to you.

“Hey, kid,” one with a bandana around his head over crew cut black hair announced as casually as he could with a toothpick between his teeth, “you travelling alone?”

Your eyes moved between him and his soft blonde partner- a lot paler than the bandana guy with a dark moustache that made him look older than he supposedly was- before crossing your arms across your chest as you exhaled a visible warm breath in the cold night. “Who’s asking?”

“That guy’s been followin’ ya for some time,” the soft blonde spoke as he tilted his head towards the camera zoomed in on the conversation, making the camera guy zoom out and duck behind a car.

“What the heck, Javier?!” You shouted from where you stood. “Get your ass here!”

“Seriously man, why are you here?” You asked the guy behind the camera. “Sweety, I can take care of myself. Now I’ll be the one worrying about you the entire night till I know you reach back home safely.” A moment of silence passed as the camera recorded the shift in your eyes from frustration to mild surprise. You turned to look into the lens before your hand went back to your neck under the hoodie.

“Y-yeah. It’s your home. Temporarily.”

“Hey, hey Missy,” the bikers called out to you, “if yer not boardin’ a bus or whatever why don’t you two head inside the tavern and have somethin’. Keep yerselves warm, eh? It ain’t safe here at this time in the night.”

Just then the camera zoomed in on another figure. A well-built man parking his bike, talking to himself as he got down and walked towards the bar as “No we are not eating any humans today,” was what the camera heard from that man opening the tavern doors, pausing, speaking a low hummed 'what’ before turning to look straight into the lens that was zooming out at the fastest speed possible and turning towards you.

“Lot of weird peeps roamin’ about,” the blonde concluded before looking straight into the camera with a haunting look sweeping over his face.

“Okay,” you answered, nodding. “Help me with my bag Rodriguez. Don’t worry, I’ll look out for you till I find you a ride home. And I don’t think you’ve eaten anything since noon,” you mentioned before taking Javier’s hand and guiding his reluctant body with you, “I’m sure the rest of the lot is sleeping on drunken bellies.”

**Clint’s SUV**

The deadly silence inside the car made Peter gulp in the nervousness inside his throat as Clint drove through the lonely forest road with Scott riding shotgun-making sad smileys on the foggy window- and Loki sitting at the back.

Finally mustering all his courage, Peter shifted forward in his seat.

“Can we put on some mus-”

“No,” Clint shut him down.

Loki, who was sitting stoically with his arms across his chest, deviated his glare towards Clint, who visibly felt a change in temperature around him, finally speaking. “Don’t take your falsely routed frustration out on a kid. He just wants to lighten the mood.” His dead yet smooth tone made Clint twitch for a second.

He was about to say something when he was interrupted.

“Alright!” Peter announced, “okay! Stop! Aunt May says you have to think about what you’re going to say in anger because what you spew in the heat of the moment, you can never take back.”

“Oh, I never intended to tak-”

“Mr Barton, please shut up for a moment, would you?”

Three pairs of eyes shot wide open at the words the spiderling just spoke.

“And Mr Lang can you please stop wallowing in self-pity like a twelve-year-old?”

Scott’s hurt face was interrupted too.

“Y/N just found out yesterday she is adopted and today, without as much as a goodbye, she left all of us in the middle of the night! She was waiting for Mr and Mrs Stark to leave so that no one could stop her when she did. She even left Zuko with you, Mr Loki. How hurt was she that she did not inform even one of us? And you all still have the audacity to fight amongst yourselves about your own problems. Yes, I know Mr Barton you are pissed at Loki for what he did but honestly now that’s none of your business. And Scott, oh my God, please, stop. Cassie knows how much you admire Mr Stephen and that’s the only reason she loves Mr Strange.”

**Stephen:** _I know for a fact someone somewhere called me Mr Strange just now. *blank expression* *deep inhale*_

_‘Hey,’ a familiar voice calls out of the focus of the camera, making it turn to the doorway of the recording room to find May standing at the entrance._

_Stephen gets up and walks towards her with the softest ‘hey’ back before closing the door in the camera’s face as he turns back towards May. “Sorry,” he whispers near May’s ear as the camera catches the doctor’s hand rest lightly on the small of May’s back, “the evening took quite an unexpected turn. Would you like me to take you home?”_

_“Oh, it’s okay,” May responds as she unconsciously straightens Stephen’s bowtie, “I would like to stay till Y/N gets back home if that’s alright with you? I’m a little worried about her.”_

_A light smirk, wrinkling the corners of his eyes, builds upon his lips. “Of course,” he says as May puts her defeated head over his chest, making him rub her back to soothe her, catching the camera recording everything, “I’m sure she’s fine, May. And I’m pretty sure she is meant to come back.” With his free hand, he motions something in the air and the blinders come up in front of the camera out of nowhere. “It’s the boys I’m worried about.”_

“And Mr Loki. Tone down the sass and apologise to her the moment you see her. Seriously guys, get your shit together,” Peter finally concluded.

A silent moment passed in the car in which everyone contemplated Peter’s words when Scott’s brows suddenly constricted themselves and he looked in the rearview mirror towards the spiderling. “How many of those red cocktails did you have?”

Peter turned towards Scott’s reflection, feeling the rest of the eyes waiting for his answer, making him move uncomfortably as he tried to clear his throat.

“Seven…” He finally answered.

Clint and Scott arched their brows in amusement.

“…teen,” came a whisper.

Clint and Scott lost their minds as Peter tried to explain them he didn’t know that drink was a cocktail till it was too late while Loki tiredly looked at the dashcam- that zoomed in to his face to record the exhaustion on his features and expressionless sarcasm dripping from his eyes.

**Loki** : _This kid is going to kill himself one day. By drowning. While trying to save a fish. From a five feet deep pond. Because he didn’t realise there were huge rocks on the water bed before he decided to dive in. Head first._

_*sighs*_

**The Shady Tavern, a few minutes later**

“Don’t drink that,” you declared to the camera before taking the drink away from Javier’s visible tan hands and giving it to a passing waitress and offering him yours, “here, take mine. Don’t leave your drinks unattended, especially not in a place you’re not sure about.”

You looked at your watch before turning your head toward the side door. The delirious man who’d entered the tavern earlier gulped down his beer bottle on the bar before turning his head in your direction, keeping the camera on its tail to be discreet in recording his movements.

“I’ll just come, okay? You can have the rest of the chips. Don’t get any on the jacket. It’s Loki’s,” you stated before getting out of the booth and walking out of the side door. The camera caught the man at the bar looking in your direction, his gaze not even faltering as your figure disappeared from his view and even five guys walked out after you. Just when the sixth guy disappeared outside did he get up from his seat and started walking towards the door, giving one cold hard stare in the camera’s direction before disappearing, forcing the camera to get up and almost break into a run to walk out of the door.

As soon as they swung open, a pair of rough, tattooed arms grabbed the camera and Javier, forcing them into a shadowed corner.

“Shh! Shhh!!” The face of the man, who was following you, came into view, his index resting on his lips as he tilted his head cautiously in the direction you’d gone before coming back near the screen.

“My name’s Eddie Brock,” he declared in a low husky tone, “I’m a reporter. Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Eddie Brock raised his hands in front of the camera, signalling he meant no harm.

An exchange between him and Javier went off camera, to which Eddie nodded and proceeded to communicate in ASL with the young man behind the camera.

“Yes. Those two men you met outside are undercover cops. I’ve been investigating a gang of child molesters, repeated abusers and pornographers. The biker gang that owns this tavern is helping me uncover the members. Your friend was targeted the moment you two made yourself known here in front of them. They are more interested in getting her because she is younger of the two of you.”

Eddie’s expressions change into a confused surprise as he looks at Javier, reading his statement.

“She’s not? Oh. Okay. Good. Now listen to me. All the six guys who followed your friend out of the tavern are the suspected targets and you are in no way to go near them. No, yes, she’ll be fine. I’m going to make sure she’s safe while you stay here. Okay? Do not move from here till I tell you to move.” Eddie’s voice came as the camera zoomed in to your figure on your toes looking for something in the far off distance in the direction of the gas station while the five men casually surrounded you from a considerable distance as a sky blue van came teetering and stopped right in front of you.

“Hey. Hey! Did you hear what I just said?” the camera came back to Eddie as he waved his hands in front of Javier before signing what he just said.

“Good. Now the few bikers in there are calling for backup. Let’s just keep everything under control till they arrive. No, he’s a good guy.”

Just as he uttered the last sentence a string of black goo started to build up on his right shoulder, till it moulded itself into a Muppet-like creature with two white eyes, fangs for teeth and a long pink tongue, bending in the direction of the camera and tilting its head with genuine curiosity.

“Eddiiieeeee,” a hoarse and heavy voice erupted from the muppet, causing the camera to jerk a bit backwards, “Let’s go eat bad guys. I’m hungryyyy.”

“Stay. Here,” Eddie asserted through his hands, before turning in your direction and disappearing in the night.

The camera zoomed back to your figure that stepped away from the van when the clean-shaved driver gave you his most controlled, automatically creepy, smile. “Hey, sugar! Want to go for a ride?”

The change in your body’s posture was noted as you squared your shoulders and shifted away from the vehicle only to have your movement blocked by another man, who moved towards you from behind while whispering, “Come on baby girl, get in the van.”

The camera moved ahead, keeping itself in the shadows as it saw the men come closer to you, one sliding open the van’s door behind you, one placing himself inside the vehicle while two others covered your sides to give you no space to run away. The last man stood at a distance, almost missed by the camera had it not caught his lit cigar in the darkness right at the edge of the streetlight.

“Get away from me,” you announced with a blank expression as you tried to shuffle yourself away from the side when two of those men nearest to you grabbed you.

“Hey!” you shouted as they tried to push you back into the van, making the camera distort the recording as it turned wildly to look for the man with the weird muppet. With no sign of him, Javier got out of his hiding spot, his audible breathing faltering as he broke into a run towards your figure being pulled into the vehicle with a hand covering your cries for help- your eyes reflecting the horror in them as you tried to fight off the hands coming for you- before it disappeared behind the men that were pushing you inside.


	2. Episode 2: You, Me & V Part II

Everything happened fast.

One moment you were standing in the empty parking lot, another moment four men were trying to push you inside a van. The next, you were being pushed down into the vehicle, the horror barely registering inside your head when a figure landed on top of the van, denting nearly half of the metal inwards, making Javier come to a halt as his feet skid and he fell on his back, never once pointing the camera away from the scene that was unfolding in front of him.

The men gripping your limbs paused at the sudden shift above them, giving you enough window to kick one in the groin, inviting double the force on your wrists and ankles by the others to hold you down on the van’s floor.

“You bitch,” cursed the man still bent forwards, writhing in pain you just gave him.

“Let her go you dumbfuck!” came a somewhat tired feminine voice from above the van.

“Who the *censored* are you, you *censored*?” the man holding your hands spat out.

“Tonight I’m least of your worries you sick pieces of shit,” the figure spat back.

“Get out of here before you become lean meat just like her, ya hear me?” the man with the cigar stepped under the streetlight.

The guy who’d crept from behind you to pull you inside the van got out to take a look at who was perched up on their vehicle; the figure turned her neck towards him tiredly making his eyes go wide in horror.

“Oh, I’m not the one you should be watching out for,” said the figure again.

“Holy shit,” the man at the back shouted as he backed away from the van, “Billy, that’s Jessica Goddamn Jones! Run!”

But before that terrified man could turn, a huge mass of black came out of the dark and took his wailing body away, making the rest of the predators pause.

“What the *censored* was that?!”

“Warned you,” Jessica huffs before shouting, “Hey! Take this one in the blue flannel next. He doesn’t seem to *censored* realise what consent means!”

And so the black mass did.

The man with the cigar, Billy, ordered the guy on the wheel to drive already, making the latter turn the key in one second and give out a blood curdling scream in another

The grasp on you got loose as everyone registered an arrow struck right through the driver’s hand through the window with a note scribbled with the words: “Hawkeye was here.”

 **Jessica** : _*scrunching her face* show off_

“Clint,” your voice broke. “CLINT!” you shouted as you got up from the floor.

The men around you were already out of the car, taking out guns from their back as they looked in every direction to find a reason to shoot something.

“You okay, kid?” Jessica came down from behind and leaned over the car door.

“Yeah,” you mentioned in your breathless state, “and just so you know, I’m a full-blown adult? Have been for a while now, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, I know it sucks. Whatever, dude. Just stay here while these super dorks take care of them, okay?”

You nodded, smiling at the woman in front of you. Jessica took off her Jacket to cover your shivering figure that had left her jacket inside the tavern. You were about to thank her when Jessica’s body felt itself recoil and you let out a gasp at the sight of one of the men hitting her with a baseball bat from the back, calling for her wrath within seconds as she picked the man up and slammed him into the ground; clearly not satisfied yet.

“Get the girl, Gary, goddamit!” Billy shouted as the guy who’d been holding your legs came back for you only to be swept away by a figure screaming “Geronimo!”

“Peter?” who heard yourself as you and the last bad guy apart from Billy tried to get a look at the apparently swinging figure that fell down in the parking over the cars - along with the guy he dragged with him- as he ran out of buildings to shoot his webs at.

“I’m okay,” a groan came from somewhere in the midst of the cars as the camera zoomed in on the thumb’s up.

Billy long pressed a number on his phone before speaking, “Get every weapon you got,” and cutting the line.

He went to the back of the van and the camera shifted its position to get a better view of the shotgun he was taking out.

“You, little s-*censored*. I will kill every last of these bastards before I let them take my property.” he announced as he loaded the gun, making all the blood in your body go cold as you watched his every move cautiously, the fear in your eyes quite evident from where the camera could see it, “and when my boys and their big guns are done with every last one of your *censored* friends, you will be paying me for that damage. In kind.” and stepped over to come back to you.

He stopped as another strange figure stood by the van’s door in front of you, the crisp white shirt’s sleeves being rolled up, taking even you by surprise for a second, a heavy breath leaving you as the street light reflected in your wet eyes.

The camera zoomed out to reveal Loki giving one final tug at his rolled up sleeves to flatten any creases while your eyes just blinked in his presence and your lips parted to let in a fresh breath of air.

“Touch her,” he stated in the calmest, composed manner as he picked up the baseball bat from the front seat of the van- the driver already lying unconscious over the wheel- and rested it on his shoulder, “and you won’t be walking again even in the afterlife.”

The camera focused on your face frozen at the view of the side profile of the God standing in front of you, a light smile of relief hovering over your shaking lips.

You wanted to move towards him but the threat lingering in front of you both stopped you from making any sudden moves.

“Are you hurt?” Came Loki’s smooth low-toned voice; a cool healing balm post the storm you had just witnessed yourself getting caught in. You carefully withdrew your hands beneath the jacket hanging over your shoulder, not wanting to answer the question with a lie.

Billy stood frozen for a second at the audacity of a man in a suit with nothing but a baseball bat in his hand, threatening someone who had a loaded shotgun.

“Loki,” your whisper of a voice wavered as you watched him, his hair veiling his face from your line of sight, “he has a gun.”

Billy spat on the ground, cocking his gun and aiming it at the God.

“I’ll touch her however I want and there is nothing you can do about it,” he growled.

Loki’s stance didn’t falter for one moment as he heard the click of the weapon, his long fingers flipping the bat in one smooth movement before swinging it forward towards Billy’s head, who pressed the trigger but not before the bat made an impact with his skull, sending his head back, his arms up, the bullet fired into the air.

The camera recorded your dropped jaw and wide eyes as you tried to come in terms with everything that took place within two seconds.

 **You** : _*your figure wrapped up in Jessica’s jacket* *your hand raised as if telling someone to hold steady while your brows constricted in a serious thought* That…*eyes coming back to face the camera* that was an action sequence that I would have watched at least twenty times…before watching it ten times more._

_*a small smile coming at the corner of your lips before you press it away* too bad it was a one time reality when my life was on the line._

_*lips turn down into a sad frown as you shrug*_

“Did you just kill that guy?” You shrieked.

You could not see it but from your horrified and somewhat surprised expression, you know Loki was rolling his eyes.

“Loki, did you just kill him?!”

He finally turned towards you, his hands coming up to rest over his hips.

“Yeah, no problem, Y/N,” his flat note and dead expression for you, making you  pause whatever horrid thought was going in your mind, “No need to thank me for saving you from a potential rapist-”

Venom sprang out of nowhere and jumped over the van before gulping up Billy’s body and revealing Eddie’s face.

“Oh he was definitely a rapist,” the reporter announced, “and your boyfriend didn’t kill him. But this guy did,” he stated, pointing at the glossy black surrounding him.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you corrected the man being wrapped up in the muck, turning back into Venom.

“Hiiiiii,” his hoarse voice boomed as he waved his black claws at you, making your hand subconsciously grab Loki’s arm as you slowly tried to plant yourself behind him, waving the other hand back questioningly at the symbiote.

“Get away from her you filthy piece of alien shit,” a voice came out of nowhere as a figure dressed in black jumped at Venom, displacing him merely by an inch.

Loki helped you out of the van, keeping you steady with one hand on your back while you balance your weight on his shoulder using your arms, noticing his ripped exposed muscles for one lingering gaze while trying to figure out who this new character was in another.

 **You** : _Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I think so too. Loki seems to have good muscle strength. Weird, right? Because I have never seen him *clears throat* *flushed in your cheeks* workout._

_*camera zooms in*_

_*whispers to self* why did say that?_

“Now who’s this idiot?” You asked Loki, who just shrugged with a ‘beats me’ expression, his arm still supporting you.

The figure in all black was picked up by the symbiote in one hand as he tried to kick him in his abdomen while Venom looked at him with sheer curiosity.

“Eddieeee! Do we eat him?!”

“Yeah! Eat me up you thirsty terrestrial thot! I don’t have a will to live anyways! “

And suddenly your expression changed from genuine confusion into tiredness.

“Oh shoot,” you groaned, “that’s my idiot.”

“V!” You shouted in Venom’s direction, “stop inciting the symbiote and get back here! Sorry, Eddie, that’s my cousin.”

And at your word, Venom safely threw ‘V’ in your direction.

“Seriously, dude,” you looked down at your tanned sibling, letting out a frustrated breath, “throwing hands at Venom? The Venom?”

V lay there on the ground, his black trench coat covered in dust all over, letting out a defeated sigh. “I’d rather be throwing hands at Venom than give my finals next week.”

Peter, who had swung by in his normal clothes and the spider-man mask, came back devoid of the mask- that was safely tucked in one of his pockets somewhere- giving your cousin a hand to get up.

“Peter, V. V, Peter Parker,” you introduced the boys to each other, watching them shake hands and nod at each other with some silent understanding that passed through them.

 **V** : _Sup. I’m V. I’m Y/N’s cous. More like her real brother than her ‘real’ brothers. No one hurts her without going through me first. *camera zooms in* No, seriously. Just hurt me man. Kill me already. I’ve been tired and done for the last eighteen years._

**Peter** _: *who’s walking by with a sub in his hand* Mood. *fistbumps V and goes about his way.*_

“You alright, kid?” Clint’s voice came from the shadows as he strutted towards you, his bow swinging with a controlled grip right next to his legs.

You nodded in affirmation, passing a smile towards him. Javier came out of his hiding place, the camera focusing on the judgemental gaze Clint was giving Loki’s hands on your waist and yours around his shoulder.

“Are you hurt somewhere? Not able to walk?” He abruptly but sweetly threw the words in your direction, suddenly making you and Loki conscious of the close proximity between the two of you, making both of you retrieve your hands in your personal space- Loki’s going in his pant pockets while yours brought the borrowed jacket closer over you.

“No, I’m good,” you nod in assurance before taking in a huge gulp of air and wetting your lips. “Listen, it’s not that I’m not grateful for-” you look around and take in the site of Peter, Loki and Clint- “all of you being here but…what are you guys doing here?”

Clint, without so much as a blink, looked at you with his ultimate death stare, forcing the camera to zoom in on to his features that seemed they were about to explode from the mundanity surrounding him. “We thought of registering into the local biker gang.”

You: *stretching the corner of your lips* you see I know he was being sarcastic but I wouldn’t put it past him to be a part of a badass biker gang. *nods* But they’d probably kick him out after he either finishes their one month’s coffee stock in a day or oversleeps and forgets their usual meetup.

“We should leave b-”

“Zip it for now, witch of the west,” Clint cut his words and eyes towards Loki, who clearly was offended at the icy response while the camera zoomed at Peter eating his sub behind them, his eyes moving between the assassin and the God with pure anticipation between huge bites.

Barton turned back towards you about to speak something when the roar of multiple engines caught everyone’s attention.

Bikes and jeeps rolled in and around them, covering all the exits of the parking lot. Men with the most malicious grins on their faces stepped out or stood up over their vehicles as they took out their personal weaponry and pointed it at you, your cousin and your friends.

“Oh God,” you whispered, making Loki turn to face your worried features, the camera catching the fear in your eyes while the God’s wrinkled brows gazed at you in some keen observation of his own.

“Where’s the boss?” One man with a rough voice asked, his gun aimed at Clint, who had moved in front of you with careful discrete steps while Peter had taken his place by your side and V was forced to stand behind you, pouting because you wouldn’t let him step out and stand in the line of fire.

“He’s dead.”

At Clint’s blunt declaration piercing the air, the camera turned as a few guns were cocked. “Tell us who killed him and we’ll let you walk away from here,” the same man spoke with weight in his voice.

And like a signal waiting to go off, his warning brought a visible streak of light in the sky closer by every second till the camera could finally make out a what seemed like a pair of lit up eyes carrying a star in their chest, brooding as it flew directly in your direction.

Before anyone could make sense of it, the streak landed on the ground with a thunderous crack and freed at least fifty six mini rockets from his suit in the direction of the people with guns, letting his suspended weapons with white fire in their tails mock them.

“Do not give me a reason to be pissed more than I already am,” Tony Stark declared in the air as the suit gracefully trickled away from his face, bringing the temperature around him down by degrees as every person in his vicinity felt chills run down their neck.

Before anyone from the bad guys club could reply, surprise-bombs and guns started  dropping from their side, flailing their hands as if they’d touched hot stove. Curses and growls and even whines left the unwanted crowd while everyone else looked at the scene unfolding in front of them with surprise. Someone had squealed ‘ANTS’ and screamed while running away, stripping to the bare minimum.

“You got it from here officers?” A familiar voice made the camera turn towards the top of the van, bringing Scott’s figure into view. The same bikers who had outed Javier came out of the shadows with more cops that cuffed the entire mob before giving Scott a casual salute and walking away with their bounty.

V tsked. Peter turned towards him and the camera caught the two of them leaning on the van. “Wanted more action?” Peter questioned in a low tone.

“At least one broken hand or leg. I could’ve really used it, you know. Tip- don’t take morning classes if you are not a morning person. Like…ever.” V responded, gathering a nod of appreciation from the spiderling.

Watching the last of those rough miscreants trickle down into the police vehicles, Tony finally turned towards the direction where everyone stood. His eyes straightaway pulled Loki out of the gathering with a gaze speaking nothing but murder.

The camera turned, watching the Iron Man walk towards the God, the vibration of his footsteps being felt in Peter and Scott’s expression, their faces looking at each other in mild horror.

Tony’s steps faltered to come to a halt when you stepped between him and Loki.

Javier’s tiny gasp could be heard behind the camera as it panned to adjust all figures along with all the eyes on you- especially Clint’s distasteful ones.

“Mr Stark…” your voice faltered as you raised your hand a bit from your sides, not much but enough to make Tony’s eyes change a shade- going from burning swords to pure white shock.

Before either of you could say another word- or the camera could record the moisture building up inside your eyes, the space near you split open with sparks, revealing Pepper, Stephen, May and Happy on the other side.

“Come on,” Pepper ordered, “this is no place to discuss family issues.”

Without even a squeak from anyone the split space one by one allowed all of you to step inside the warmth of the Avengers facility. The camera turned back towards the now desolate parking lot where Eddie and Jessica stood, looking tired and bored after sliding your suitcase along with V’s into the glittery portal.

“Y/N knows Tony Stark?” Eddie murmured, getting only an eye roll from Jessica as she walked back towards the tavern, already throwing an open invitation to the journalist to have a drink with her.

**Avenger’s Facility- Dead of The Night**

“I was not in any danger. I was working with Ms Jones. A student had gone missing day before yesterday and Jones was kind enough to help me out.”

The dead quiet lingered a bit more, making the camera catch your pained features and fingers forced into the red skin of your palms.

Scott picked up your ‘Title of Your Sextape’ mug filled with piping hot tea and brought it to you. You thanked him before shaking your head, showing disinterest in having anything while Tony stood there, his silence killing everyone on the inside. Even Clint could be seen feeling the discomfort as he sat on the sofa, covering his mouth with his fist.

Pepper stepped forward, opening her phone, playing the video you had recorded as a low-key farewell, making your eyes go wide for a second before they turned towards Javier with nothing but pain and distrust.

“This was not supposed to reach you before you came back-”

“We’re sorry-” Tony interrupted you, almost making you flinch- “for not telling you sooner.”

Silence.

“I never really thought it was my truth to tell,” he finally looked at you. “Yes, I was selfish in keeping it from you while trying to find out if you were really my…my…”

He struggled to complete his sentence, his hands scratching away the dirt on the marble over the fireplace.

Eyes went wide around the room. So did the mouths. Turned out Tony didn’t have to say much.

 **Peter and Scott** : _*incoherent but excited mumbling about y/n and not being able to figure this out sooner*_

 **Clint** : _*cross-armed* I’m happy…and sad. *turns to see Loki walking by the window of the recording room*_

_*camera pans at the death stares Clint throws towards the window*_

_And smad._

**V** : _Hot damn! My sis is the daughter of a freaking billionaire?! Are you kidding me?_

_*looking up*_

_What did I do wrong? And why her? *looks back at the camera* I mean I’m happy and everything but I know her. The most she’s spent her money on is buying me nachos once. That woman doesn’t even care about the buck._

“We received a letter a few months ago from the hospital where you’d been put up for adoption,” Pepper finally took over, her hands already caressing Tony’s back. “The documents stated your name and the whereabouts of your current family. They were instructed to be shared with your blood relative in case something happened to your birth mother. We weren’t able to find out about her or what happened to her- mainly because all the hospital received was an anonymous letter with the request and verified signatures and numbers- but we did find you.”

Your quivered gasp through the free-flowing tears reverberated through the stillness of the lounge.

“So…” your voice was barely audible, “I’m your…daughter?”

“I thought you saw-”

“No,” you shook your head vigorously in response, eyes filled up to the brim, “I didn’t have it in me to find out. I was… scared.”

“Scared? Are you sure?” Strange questioned your statement, making everyone turn towards him in confusion. “Last I heard you were somewhat…relieved on knowing that you were adopted.”

“I think you should stop, Doc,” Scott announced, allowing the camera to catch the uneasiness he felt the moment your arms crossed across your chest on Strange’s words.

“No,” Stephen continued, “my good magician. Hear me out. You felt like it and I quote ‘makes sense’. How I know that is not of importance. You were sure as hell not going back to your so-called parents to look for answers. So, why did you leave everyone here; everyone who I’m sure according to them did their level best to make you feel at home.”

He stood there, his green eyes facing you. His hands casually in his pant pockets, waiting for you to drop the ball. But you didn’t.

“She left because she was scared of what would happen if Tony Stark was confronted with this knowledge,” an unfamiliar voice came from one of the sofas. Everyone turned to register V member laying there, trying to run his fingers through his hair, using his front camera from his phone as a mirror.

“She left because she was scared of losing one of best fams she’d ever had the honour of staying with. Because she didn’t want to be thrown away, she decided it was better to call it quits from her side.”

Every single eye that had been on V now turned towards you, making you grit your teeth and curse your cousin under your breath.

You: *deep inhale* *tired eyes* If he weren’t my brother…*camera zooms in* I wouldn’t have aimed that ashtray for his head.

*shrugs*

Good thing I have a messed up hand-eye coordination.

“One more word and it’ll be your head next,” you spat at V, who got up from the floor- where he had so messily flattened himself to save his head from your attack- and threw sofa cushions in your direction before aiming a half filled bottle of water at you.

You ducked and missed the bottle by just an inch, the camera catching the tiny gasp leaving your mouth before it zoomed in on Peter and Scott looking at you and your sibling, wide-eyed.

 **Scott** : _Remember that meme you showed me yesterday?_

 **Peter** : _The one with the gasping Pikachu?_

 **Scott** : _*nods* Yes. Y/N’s face reminded me of that meme._

 **Peter** : _*looking into some unknown void* *hits realisation* *eyes go wide* *gasps* Oh my-_

Scott broke your run-and-pounce midway, lifting you up by your torso.

“Alright. Easy. Easy. Smash each other’s heads later,” Scott announced for the both of you before he was sure you were calm enough to loosen his grasp on you, “I think Pepper and Stark have something to say.”

“You thought we would chuck you out of here?” Pepper looked at you with sincerest form of confusion mixed with an unspoken apology, melting your features further.

“Why would you think that? Did I do something?” Stark inquired, his face too carrying a hint of hurt over them.

“What? No, Mr Stark that’s not-”

“Did someone here say something inappropriate?”

“Oh, no! Not at all!”

“Was it because of Loki?”

“No, Mr Stark please just-”

“The why the heck-”

“Because of me,” your raised voice finally confessed, your back bent down by some invisible weight that you carried on your shoulders while your hands pointed at you- appearing as if they’d pierce your chest and grab your pulsating heart for everyone to see. The camera caught your tears flowing freely down your heated cheeks.

“I am not normal, Mr Stark. I am far from a functioning human. I am broken in ways you don’t know. I am broken in ways even I don’t know. I have failed time and again in relationships. With my father, my mother, my brothers. And let’s just leave out the people I have dated or thought of dating. Half of my life has withered away trying to fight the anxiety and darkness deep rooted within me. I am far from being a daughter that quite possibly carries your genes.”

Silence.

 **Clint** : _Please *closes his eyes in a prayer* let me tell her. Please!_

 **Scott’s voice** : _No._

_*camera zooms out to Scott’s figure sitting beside Clint, shaking his head*_

**Scott** : _We are not telling her where she gets all of this from. God, Clint be a little empathetic you lazy ass bird. Go look at the security footage from your nest._

 **Clint** : _*stares at the camera, done for the day*_

The silence engulfing the room was followed by the camera going about recording everyone’s expressions; Peter’s empathetic brows, May’s head tilt as she placed her hands on her chest, Scott’s restrained urge clearly dripping from his face as he fought himself to not pull you into his arms, Strange’s relieved sigh as he turned towards Tony for what was to happen next, Pepper’s appearance taking in everything before closing her eyes for a moment and taking in one lungful of breath and releasing it with a smile. Lastly, Tony’s face, his twitching lip as he looked at you and then at his wife before turning back in your direction.

All through this, one figure stood apart from the entire crowd gathered in the lounge.

Loki sat behind the kitchen counter, sipping the still hot tea from your mug, listening to everything, observing each change in expression, every counter-reaction to your words, all the movements made around in the room. And even as he did so, he didn’t break his languid stature for the camera, deceiving the audience for the better part.

“You, young lady, are anything but broken,” Stark announced, taking you by surprise. “Happy, where is it?” He brought his hand forward as everyone else observed an envelope you were way too familiar with, thanks to the encounter with that Jim guy yesterday morning. The mere thought of what he had done to you made you shiver where you stood now.

“I haven’t opened it yet,” Stark spoke to you and only you; his voice soft and audible to your ears. “I don’t want to. Pepper and I have known you for quite some time even before you knew me or any of us. Based on that and purely that…and of course our repo together-” Tony ripped the envelope and its contents with his hands before throwing them into the fireplace- “I am officially adopting you as my daughter.”

 **Scott & Peter**: _*screaming and jumping in the recording room while the camera stationed outside can hear their muffled excitement*_

“That is if you’re okay with it,” Tony added as he raised his brows in question before clearing his throat and blinking a little too fast.

“But Mr Stark, you are…you and-”

“You should be okay with it. Shouldn’t she, V?”

V came forward and wrapped his arm around your shoulder. “Screw her, what criteria do I need to fulfil to be adopted by you?”

“First, get a haircut, man. I can barely see your eyes under all that darkness your goth persona keeps carrying in your hair over your face. Seriously.”

“I don’t think you should be adopting someone like me-”

“Oh so, you are cool with the idea of adoption,” Scott cut you in, stepping forward to stand next to you, “perfect. I’d like to adopt you then. I’m not a genius billionaire philanthropist but I’m a dad and my daughter feels I’m pretty good at it.”

“Back off, Mono Pharaoh,” Tony warned, “you already have a daughter,” to which Scott just stepped back and raised his hands in defeat.

“Do it,” Clint spoke from the sofa, half of his body already sliding off the seat, “adopt him as your dad. I want him to suffer from all the worries of a father of a young daughter for every second of those nasty missions he sent me on. Do it, Y/N.”

“Guys, I think you’re forgetting how huge a deal this is. Despite everything I’ll have to talk to my family first,” you tried to break the humming going around you when your eyes settled on Pepper’s hand taking Tony’s arm and looking at him with a veiled question in her eyes. Tony did the same.

The camera zoomed in on the change in the shade on your face when the constriction in between your brows loosened.

“You already asked them.” The statement was more for you than them.

The camera focused on Loki captured a pause in between him taking the edge of the cup to his lips as his eyes turned towards you. The mug slowly went back on the counter as you took in your first- and a quite evident- deep breath to stabilise your features.

Loki’s thumb gnawed at the edge of the cup, his gaze stuck on you while his expressions reflected an implicit calculation.

Before anyone could say any words of comfort to you, you nodded at some thought floating in the air. “You know what, it’s fine by me.”

“Adopt me. Just tell me where to sign and I’ll do it.”

And just like that, the entire room took a breath of relief.

“Don’t tell me later on that I didn’t warn you,” you stated before hugging Pepper.

Tony looked it you with lighter eyes, his smile stuck there in one corner of his lips. “I almost lost a kid once before-” the camera panned to a happy Peter hugging May saying ‘I’m so happy for Mr Stark!’- “I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I’d lost one today.”

And the tears you thought had died down, came up again, spilling over the edge.

“And speaking of hurting people and forgiving-” Tony sniffed before turning in all the directions, finally letting his glare rest on Loki- “I believe someone needs to learn ethics one-oh-one on earth.”

Before he could walk over to the God, you took Tony by his arm and stopped him.

“It’s alright, Mr Stark. Loki regrets what he did. He already apologised.”

The unprecedented surprise on everyone’s face, even Loki’s- everyone except May and Peter- was captured quite effortlessly.

Tony stood there looking between you and Loki before finally deciding to give up. “Fine. If you say so. But if he does anything else you promise me-”

“I promise you will be the first one to hear about…”

Before you could finish the sentence, a sneeze left you.

Then another.

And another.

And another!

“Oh shoot!” you tried to speak with your nasal passages blocked, “I think I caught a-”

“Room. Now! You are grounded till Pepper and I come back from our honeymoon.”

Confusion.

Surprise.

Offence.

Frustration.

Every expression that passed over your face was captured with a perfect zoom over your weak features now looking at the camera.

 **Tony** : _First day as my kid and I’ve already grounded her. I’m already turning out to be a- *stops and turns his head, making the camera follow his direction and look at Pepper standing by the door shaking her head with a stern warning*_

_*comes back to the camera* I put some Skittles and hot chocolate mix in her bedroom. And a few cold medicines. You and Javier make sure she doesn’t go out in the cold, got it? Good. *shouts towards the door* hey Pepper! I forgot to keep teabags and a kettle in her room!  
_

_*gets up to follow Pepper out of the room before turning back*_

_Don’t let her out of your sight._

Everyone trickled away bit by bit from the lounge, towards their flight, their home, or their rooms, tired from the long and eventually happy day.

“Oh shoot!” you tried to sniff through your blocked nose as you faced Loki at the kitchen counter, “I think I forgot your jacket.”

The camera turned towards Loki, who in turn looked at the camera while it effortlessly captured the suit jacket he was already wearing now.

“I wonder where I left it,” you muttered as you took a sip of fresh hot tea Stephen had prepared for you before your hands grabbed your throbbing head.

The other camera sat by the sofa, recording a surprised Scott ducking down a bit where he sat with his phone in his hand, directing the camera person to shush so he could hear into your and Loki’s conversation.

“How did you know?”

You looked up at Loki, trying to make sense of his question, which dawned upon you a little late.

“Oh. May told me. She’s called me up when I’d decided to go on a weekend trip with V to clear my head and make sense of what was going on. She even told me something about some gift?”

Loki raised his head a little as if trying to look down at you for a second there.

“Don’t think of this as some sapling of warmth between us. My actions were a bit…malicious in ways but that does not mean I have grown to like you in any sort of way.”

Scott rolled his eyes where he sat before mouthing ‘are you kidding me’ while you chuckled.

You put your mug down a little too fast, forcing it to make some noise as it collided with the marble surface.

“Mm-hmm-” you licked away the remnants of the tea from your lips- the camera catching the flicker in Loki’s eyes as they shifted between them and your gaze- and turning to look at the God- “and what makes you think I’ve forgiven you?”

The sudden shift in the current around the two of you forced a silent gasp out of Scott.

A flash of confusion passed over the trickster’s face.

“You are not the only one who can hide from the audience what hurts, Mr Odinson.”

Passing a gentle smile towards him, you got up from the counter and went towards the dorms.

“Scott, thank Cassie from my side, would you?” you shouted weakly in his direction on your way before whistling for Zuko.

Loki sat there, motionless for some time, watching your figure disappear at the dorm entrance; a sigh escaping him as he stared into a nameless void ahead of him while Scott saw an opening and tiptoed his way out of the lounge.

Moments passed before Loki finally got up, putting his hands inside his jacket pockets, freezing midway and looking down at his hand.

A neatly folded tissue came out of the pocket. Unfolding it, he scrunched his nose before turning towards the camera along with turning the tissue towards the lens as well. A small chibi character with long black hair sat on a straight black line drawn by a pen, his head tilted to one side, looking towards a tiny dog sitting next to it, its head tilted in the same manner, mirroring the chibi- both of them having one question mark each over their heads.

“Who are these sorry creatures?” Loki scoffed before half-throwing the napkin on the counter and walking away.

**The Lounge, one hour later**

A camera turned on and recorded the noise of it being awkwardly but quickly carried out of a dark room, into the corridor before stopping at the turn towards the lounge, ducking down behind a plant next to the wall.

A lone figure walked about the space before picking up the tissue Loki had left over the counter. The pale fingers carefully evened out the crumpled piece and brought them closer to the fireplace to watch it in a better light, revealing the identity of the figure to the camera that was still trying to adjust and hide itself well.

Sparks pierced through the air and Tony stepped inside the lounge with a blue tee and black track pants on him.

“Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Stephen commented, still gazing at the tissue in his hand.

“Murdock wants the results just in case,” Tony responded lining up the two mugs kept over the counter.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Tony’s tongue went over his teeth in one hard thought as Stephen brought out the manila envelope out of thin air to present it to the newly self-proclaimed father.

Tony took the envelope, his fingers running over the edges of the opening.

“Someday, maybe,” he finally declared, “but not today.”

A smirk of content found its way on Stephen’s lips which Tony mirrored before both of them shook hands.

“Now send me back before Pepper finds out. Oh, and give my love to May,” he commented, making Stephen narrow his eyes towards him as familiar sparks ripped the space in two places and both of them disappeared like they were never there.

The camera waited for a few seconds before getting up from behind the plant and turning towards the dorms, to walk back only to flinch and shake violently at the presence of a figure standing in front of it.

Bucky stood there, his hair a mess, his eyes filled with pure innocent confusion.

“What did I miss?”


	3. Episode 3: Are You Threatening Me?

The camera turned from black to the view of a dorm door being rapped quite loudly by a familiar fair fist.

A click and turn led to the door opening and revealing your very sick, infuriating gaze. The bags and dark circles under and around your eyes along with the redness scarring your nose forced an involuntary ‘oh God’ out of the person- out of the range of the camera- who had woken you up.

“It’s seven in the morning,” you fumed.

The camera panned out to show Steve’s shocked face looking at you and then at the camera before turning back you and placing his hand over his face.

“I was wondering if you’d like to go out for a morning walk before college but…when did this happen?”

His concerned features were radiating pure empathy for you as you sniffed and wiped away the tears that came with the infuriating cold.

“Last night,” your voice whimpered. So did your face.

“I-I’ll go make some tea for you, okay?” Steve assured you before turning to go towards the lounge.

“Thank you, captain,” you muttered with all your strength as you watched Steve go away and found your aching limbs leaning by the doorframe.

“Woah, woah, woah!” the grandmother voice came from the opposite side of the corridor. The camera turned to show a worried Scott in his Captain America PJs, half awake with bed hair and crinkled brows walk towards you. “What are you doing out of bed? Get back in there or do I have to use my father voice on you?”

“Scott,” you tried to look at him with the plainest expression you could manage through the pain, “your father voice is your sweetest voice. I’d actually love it if you could use it on me because I am really not having a good morning.” Your sentence slowly transformed into low sobs, tearing away Scott from his sleep.

“Hey, hey,” he cooed into the air as he soothed your back, “what’s wrong? Is it about the adoption thing? Sweety, I can talk to Tony if you feel things are going too fast.”

You shook your head and wiped away your tears as Scott walked you back to your bed, the camera following you. It panned in on your cousin, V, spread on the couch next to your bed, his mouth and eyes partially open in deep sleep.

“No, it’s not that,” you interjected before showing Scott a message on your phone, “it’s the professor’s assistant.”

Scott looked up from the phone, his eyes opening wider as he looked at you. “You mean David.”

“Yes, he wants me to come and turn in the assignment if I want full credit. I thought I could make it in time after the wedding but with the whole incident and then my impulsive decision to leave and all the stuff after that, I completely forgot about it.”

“Can’t you just mail him like every other normal person?”

The camera turned to look at Natasha leaning by your door with a detox juice glass in her hand, sipping on it ever so casually.

You sighed, your shoulders drooping more.

“He wants me to submit the assignment in person because he wants to discuss my grade in the previous one. According to him, my previous assignment didn’t deserve an A.”

“Oh God,” Natasha uttered under her breath.

“Yes, exactly,” you acknowledged, making Scott look between the two of you with blank faces.

“What? I don’t get it.”

 **Scott** : _*scratches his scruffy beard* so according to Nat and Y/N, that David guy either just wants to annoy the hell out of our girl or *lip twitches in annoyance* he has some really shallow motives. *crosses arms* That guy just made an enemy out of the most dangerous Avengers._

_*camera pans out to show the black widow sitting beside him sipping her detox juice*_

**Natasha** _: Heck yeah he did *stares right into the camera with the most innocent yet terrifying smirk* and an enemy out of Scott too. *pats Scott’s back*_

**Scott** _: *whispers with the intensity of a hundred blazing suns* Oh yes._

Both Nat and Scott were trying to come up with a plan while you lay on your bed, comfortably tucked inside your quilt, when the camera watched Scott’s gaze freeze at the door.

“Wait!” Scout shouted, “I have a plan. You are the plan.”

The camera turned to watch a confused Loki standing by your door. “Excuse me?”

 **Loki** : _*tired exhale* Scott wants me to take Y/N’s place and go submit some…assignment in her college. A very cunning plan but I think the man who controls insects forgot one very crucial detail._

“Loki’s not leaving the compound. Stark’s orders,” Natasha declared in a blank tone while the camera caught you and Loki sharing a two-second eye contact before you averted your gaze and covered your face in tissue and Loki turned to look at Scott while his one hand gnawed at the other.

“If you have another shapeshifter just sitting in the compound, ready to do the work for you, I’m okay with it,” Scott proposed to Natasha, “but tell me this- if Stark had the choice of sending one ex-space criminal instead of her daughter to meet some creep, what do you think he’ll choose?”

Natasha shifted her impenetrable gaze from Scott to Loki.

“You’re not wrong,” she finally muttered tilting her head in agreement.

“Guys,” your nasal voice tried to speak through, “at least ask the said person if they actually want to be a part of the whole scheme of-”

“I’ll do it,” Loki said without skipping a beat, making you turn towards him before you bit your lip to press away the anxiousness.

 **Loki** : _I’ll do it because I want to do it. It’s boring in here anyways. Might be a little fun to go out and about this miserable world._

_*stares at the camera person* what_

_*camera pans out to show a smirking Scott sitting beside Loki immediately transforming his expressions to a serious one as soon as Loki turns to look at him*_

**Scott** _: No, yeah. *nods in agreement* It is really boring in here. *looks at the camera with a shimmer in his eyes and pressed lips* Boring and miserable._

“Who’s going to babysit him?” Natasha finally asked the question everyone in the room, except the very out V, were thinking.

“I can,” Pietro stepped inside your room.

“No offence kid,” Scott broke Pietro’s fixated gaze on you as he entered your room, “but last time you were to keep an eye on him, you were kissing a wall while he was dancing to ‘I got all the time in the world’.”

Pietro looked at Scott, then at Loki before taking in a deep breath. “That won’t happen today. We’re not doing it for fun and games this time,” he admitted looking back at you.

The camera caught Loki’s watchful eye-catching the concern in Pietro’s eyes for you while you tried to avoid it, even using your hair as a shield.

“It’s decided then?” Loki let out a tired sigh, already done for the day.

“Wait,” you called out to him- or your throat tried to- making everyone turn their heads towards you. “Don’t you need some sort of a background for what exactly you’re going there?”

Now all heads turned towards Loki as he took in a deep breath while his fingers did some mystical calculation of their own. “I will, actually. But for that, I would need to look inside your head, if you allow me.”

You looked at Scott and Natasha for confirmation, who nodded in return.

“All you need to do is submit that assignment. So just go for that spot. No need to poke any further inside her,” Pietro announced, making Loki raise his brows at the man while everyone else looked at him with utter disgust.

“Dude!” Scott raised his hands to question what just came out of Pietro’s mouth while Loki sat down on the bed and faced you.

“Tell me when you’re ready,” he spoke softly.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready,” you scoffed in a similar low tone before your eyes caught his.

“You two are just adding to Maximoff’s context,” Natasha muttered from where she stood, never taking her eyes off the two of you.

The camera just zoomed in on you as you blinked- looking for something in Loki’s eyes for a fleeting moment- before detaching your gaze from his. Sitting straight, you nodded. “Alright, go ahead.”

With the consent, Loki brought forward his right hand to plant it on your left cheek- his fingers gently tucking away your hair before gazing the tiny hairs on your face.

“Your hand’s warm,” you declared- your tone dripping in sarcasm- for everyone in the room as the camera caught a slight tilt of your head into his touch- before you closed your eyes- before shifting towards the audience to take in their reactions.

Pietro kept shifting his weight between his legs while crossing and uncrossing his arms, not able to decide what to do with the restlessness increasing inside him. Natasha was busy on her phone. When the camera moved barely a centimetre to take a peek of what she was doing in her device, the Black Widow’s eyes shot a look at it and froze it right where it stood before going back into her phone. Scott, on the other hand, had his head tilted, his thumb in between his teeth as he looked at you and Loki with a trace of a smile over his lips.

Within twenty seconds Loki was done and ready to save the day. Natasha ordered him to shift his form into you in front of them and so he did. A ripple of gold and green ran over him as he turned into an exact replica of you in front of everyone’s eyes. The new you was wearing black skinn fit pants, a green blouse that spoke nothing but ‘I am in my professional clothing to slay the day’ and a black leather jacket while your hair was left open, you natural curls carrying a silky shine over them.

“Is that how I look?” you asked the room in a daze, your head tilted on your pillow, as you looked at Loki’s version and then back at everyone else.

Everyone nodded in sync, making you raise your brows in mild surprise. “I look…good,” you whispered to yourself.

“Come on, I’ll take you two to the campus,” Natasha stated before turning off her phone and walking out.

A very worried Steve entered the room with your mug just a few seconds later, with the camera catching Natasha’s head peak inside your room to see what happened next.

“I’m sorry I said I’ll get you tea, Y/N,” Steve declared as he brought it towards the leather jacket you, “but Bucky made this potion of sorts for your cold and sore throat. Fair warning this has brandy in-”

Steve’s eyes landed on the not so sick version, taking in the complete form- and the very unlikely smirk on your lips- and turning pale when his eyes landed on the actual you. His brows did a dance of confusion and surprise while his eyes shifted between you and Loki, not knowing what to say at this point. Scott simply patted him on his back as everyone left the room and you gestured Steve to give you the mug.

“What just happened?” he asked you as you took the mug and tried to smell the contents but couldn’t. Taking in a lungful of air, you brought the mug to your lips, the camera panning in on you on every gulp you took without a break, downing the entire thing in one go.

“That,” you continued as Steve took the mug from you, “was Loki. He’s going in my place to college because my ex has made it his life’s mission to ruin my studies because he thinks he has the power to do so. Nat and Pietro are going to keep an eye on Loki while he submits my assignment.”

Steve looked at you, not really sure of what to say before he looked down at your mug and took a whiff of whatever was in there.

“Yeah, I wish it was the alcohol talking,” you responded giving him a sympathetic smile.

“How did you get sick? You were absolutely fine yesterday,” Steve asked as he touched your forehead with the back of his hand to check your body temperature while his eyes caught something beyond your bed. “And who’s that?” Steve confusion rose further on the sight of V snoring to glory.

“Ah your hands are cold,” you sighed. “I was out in the cold yesterday. Late last night?”

“When was that?”

“Oh right! You weren’t up when the whole thing happened. Basically, I’d left the facility when I got to know that I was adopted and Mr Stark might be my father. Then I was almost abducted by a gang of human traffickers while working with Jessica Jones and Eddie Brock to bring down the whole thing. But I was saved by JJ and Venom. And Clint, Peter, Scott and Loki. Hey, did you know Loki isn’t as lean as he appears to be? And then Mr Stark came from the sky all pissed at me and we all came home. I told him why I’d left without telling anyone. He didn’t like the idea of me running away from family so he adopted me. And that’s my cousin, V. And we still don’t know whether Mr Stark is my father.”

The silence that lingered on from a stunned Steve and his dropped jaw was quite loud. He tried to speak twice, the words nearly on his tongue before stopping, his hand turning into a fist to cover his mouth.

 **Steve** : _*mouth still open in shock* *brows constricted* *eyes looking at some void in the distance* Tony… has a kid. *eyes come to stare at the camera* Y/N…is that kid. *eyes go up in a deep thought* *licks his upper lip* Y/N could Tony’s kid. But…now…she is officially his kid._

_*still in deep thought*_

_*shakes head* *bites his lip* I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s Tony we’re talking about but… *presses his face in his palm* I think I need a drink._

_*gets up from the chair* I think I need two drinks._

_*disappearing from cameras view* Gosh darn it! CLINT! Do you know where the Asgardian stuff is?!_

**Campus**

“She told you to always stay by her side? Even in class?”

The camera follows Loki’s version of you as you gracefully walk through corridors. His version radiated a certain confidence on a whole other level as it caught multiple eyes staring at you as you walked down the hall towards the class. Some eyes even took the liberty to scan you completely as you oozed out pure elegance in your steps.

“Why?” the you!Loki asked, getting a signed response from the back of the camera that changed your expressions from a cocked brow to blank. With a clench of your jaw and an exhale, your eyes wore the ‘murder’ stare before opening the doors to the class and walking in to sit down at the back despite there being merely ten students there.

The camera locked on to David’s face, who’s eyes followed your movement up the stairs, his eyes never really rising above your waist as they followed you till you sat down.

“Hey, Y/N,” the young African-American sitting beside you greeted you with a nod.

“Hey Yusuf,” you greeted him back, mirroring his nod, “how’s your thesis coming along?”

“You had to ask,” he grumbled, “I’m still stuck on the emotional quotient right now and David here won’t let me have Professor Cozner’s notes on behavioural studies of eminent personalities. I am one bad grade away from dumping his dumb ass in the football field. I still don’t get how he even graduated to get into the master's program here.”

“Huh,” you exclaimed. A moment later you leaned over the desk, sliding his notebook and pen towards you. “Tell you what,” you began writing down a number, “call this number and this…man will help you out. He’s got some decent knowledge about the emotional curvature you are writing about and how it seems to write the history of the world as we know it.”

“Really?” Yusuf straightened up in his seat to look at the number in a mix of delight and confusion. “I’ll owe you one, Y/N.”

A smirk found its way on your lips as you turned your head to the front to watch David’s eyes steal away from you and Yusuf. “Yes, you do. Say, Yusuf, do you mind waiting for me after class? I’ll submit my assignment and then I’ll talk to this man to clear his schedule for you today. How does five sound?”

“Great!” Yusuf nearly jumped out of his seat.

 **You!Loki** : _*sitting inside an empty class, away from prying eyes* Allies. Wherever you go, you always need allies, especially in the world you have no clue about. That is what I am doing today. Building allies. *smirks* *looks at her nails* I wonder what Y/N is up to._

**Avengers Facility, Your Room**

“I am _not_ listening to you ever again,” you wailed, your cheeks wet with the fresh tears falling from your face, “now I am crying _and_ I can’t breathe!!!”

The camera zoomed out to reveal a worried Wanda sitting by your side. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I-I didn’t know Coco would be so intense,” she confessed, soothing your back with her hand while sniffing and wiping her tears from the tissue in the other hand.

“It’s a Disney movie, Wanda,” you squeaked through your tears, “of course it would be intense!”

Another sniff came from your other side, making you and Wanda turn towards the sound. The camera zoomed out to reveal a red-eyed Bucky sitting on your other side, still looking at the end credits as huge tears rolled down his cheeks.

You held your box of tissues out for him and patted his back, making a whimper escape his throat.

The camera also showed your cousin still on the couch not bothered even a bit by the crying next to him.

**Professor Cozner’s Office**

“Hey Y/N! How was the Sunday wedding?”

David’s face was lit like one of those unwanted annoying floodlights in the daytime.

“Quite amazing actually,” the sauve version of you spoke, your Loki showing a little. “Here,” you said, bringing forward a folder, “is my assignment. Complete before the deadline, as you can see. See you in class tomorrow.”

“Y/N, wait!” David nearly spoke out loud before restraining himself before the camera that recorded everything from outside the office window.

Your brows turned in mocked confusion at his sudden outburst.

He got up from behind his desk that was in the corner of Cozner’s office and walked towards you, clearing his throat, his eyes shifting between you and the camera now and then.

“You look…different today. Did you do something to your hair?” He asked, crossing his hands over his chest and flexing a little, his biceps bulging through his shirt, making your eyes shift towards the camera for an instant with a very done look before turning back to him.

“No. I just realised my worth and thought of getting rid of the unnecessary,” you stated in the smoothest tone possible, nearly making David choke over the air surrounding him.

“That’s…nice,” David fell short of words before inching closer to you, “you are looking like you’ve lost weight too.”

“Yes,” you acknowledged, “unfortunately some fat cells were burned while getting rid of irrelevant people. Can I go now? I have people waiting-”

“So where are you living these days?” David tried to be nonchalant as his hand came to brush a rebellious strand of your hair away from your face, making your gaze follow his movement with a blank stare, not breaking away till his hand went back to himself.

Your fingers folded and dug through the skin of your palms while the stare you gave David made him shift his shoulders as if ants were crawling over his skin.

“Touch me without my consent again,” you declared in your ever-composed, velvet tone, “and your hands will find themselves forced down your throat so deep you will be shaking it from another end.”

David stood there in a horror-filled stunned silence, his mouth agape.

“Now, is there anything of some importance besides my assignment that you would like to talk to me about?”

He shook his head and squeaked out a ‘no’ before clearing his throat as he tried to compose himself while you walked out of his boss’ office.

 **You!Loki** : _That man has no concept of boundaries. What did a woman like Y/N ever see in him?_

**Your Room**

“It was a blind date. I didn’t even know him!” you moaned with utter distaste. “I was just forced into this stupid thing out of nowhere by my friends and the next thing I know I am sitting with this jock talking about hunting, football and his car collection that his father probably paid for. Ugh!”

“Jeez!” Bucky exclaimed as he braided your hair, working patiently with the strands, “You should have left him there and then, doll.”

“I should’ve, right?” you gasped, the brandy working its way through your system, “But I am really bad at saying no and I have a surprisingly good threshold for patience.”

“For patience, honey, not for douchery,” Wanda spoke from the floor as she did a jigsaw puzzle while Zuko slept beside her, forcing you to nod.

“Hmm. He was a decent guy sometimes too, you know when people were not looking and he had no one to impress. I even started liking him at one point till he…did some stupid stuff.”

Wanda and Bucky turned towards you to give you an empathy filled ‘aw sweety’ while you forced out a silent laugh at their gestures and waved them off.

“Speaking of stupid stuff, did you guys notice something different about Loki? Speaking about Loki, that dude is strong as f***!” you exclaimed exaggerating the last word with a heavy breath.

 **Bucky** : _I think the brandy might have been too much for her *stretches the corner of his lips in guilt* I made the solution according to my capacity. I really should have taken her system into consideration. Now she’s blabbering anything that comes to her mind. Like how Loki is buff! *chuckles* *pauses* He’s not… *shakes his head* *lowers voice* is he?_

Wanda’s brows concentrated on your features as you narrated how Loki swung the bat at your kidnapper and blew the freaking lights of the monster, her head tilting in some unspoken thought before her eyes went wide.

 **Wanda** : _Remember how I saw fireworks go out in her head the first time she came here? *beaming* Yes, this time I saw a swirl of colours all around her with a really soothing beat playing in the background. With an occasional soft gong. *nods* *pauses* *constricts brows* But I don’t get why I saw this while she was talking about Loki._

“I think you should get some sleep, Y/N.” Wanda got up from the floor and waved her fingers to gather up the puzzle pieces in the boxes.

You chuckled. “Why? Because it’s hard to hear good stuff about a bad guy? I can talk bad stuff about good guys too!”

Bucky sighed, finishing your glorious braid with a black hair tie. “Yup, I really shouldn’t have given you so much to drink.”

He got up and ordered you to get under your comforter, which you happily obeyed.

“Thank you for the drink, Bucky boy. You should try your hand at cocktails sometimes,” you announced as your head touched your pillow.

Turning off the lights save for the bedside lamp and drawing the curtains, Wanda and Bucky stepped out of your room only to find Loki enter your space.

Your head instantly lifted up with a gasp on seeing him come into view. “Hey! Howdy gooo?”

Bucky looked at you and then at Loki. “Turn off the lights before you come out,” he declared before leaving the two of you.

The camera panned on a slightly surprised Wanda watching you and Loki before turning her head towards the camera.

 **Wanda** : _*whispers* soft gong._

Loki took slow steps towards you, his hands pressing each other. You shifted a little away from the side and patted your bed for him to sit.

And so he did.

“It went fine,” he spoke softly, tucking the comforter down to block any warmth from escaping you.

Your eyes didn’t leave him while your face rested on your arm.

“Thank you, Loki,” you whispered, your eyes feeling the daze setting in.

“Why did you let him do it?” His soft words brought you above the dizziness.

“What?”

“Why did you let him present your work as his? It should have been you in that office right now. Not him.”

You exhaled out through your mouth before your closed eyes shifted back to Loki. “You wandered in my head, didn’t you?” You asked him in a dead tone.

“More like took a peek out of corridor you’d told me to go down,” he implored with a shrug.

Your fingers played with the edge of the soft pillow cover. The camera tried to be discrete in the dark, zooming in from the corner it stood in.

“I was…not really in the right state of mind back then to even acknowledge what that guy did. I didn’t have the energy to fight anymore,” you shrugged, a lone tear falling down on your pillow.

“Now,” you continued your slow whisper, wiping off your tear and blowing off your nose, “you tell me why did you feel the need to give me the news of my adoption?”

Loki’s features felt a change in colour at the sudden yet soft confrontation.

“Y/N, I know you are-”

“I’m not mad, Loki. I promise you I am not,” you stressed, your fingers working on pulling out a lone thread from the quilt that stood out from the rest, “I’m just confused why you would do such a thing to someone when you have felt the hurt first hand.”

You felt him shift a little away from you at the mention of his side of the story.

“What? You think you are the only one who can peek out of the corridors?”

His usually arched brow arched a little more. He looked out away from you towards some void while you waited patiently for an answer. Your eyes settled on his hand near you sitting on the edge of the bed. You let your free hand slide towards his and stopped just as he started to speak.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” he began, his voice never rising above a certain level of mellow, “but I think I wanted to know if you would react in a way that was…I don’t know…inappropriate. I wanted to see if you will feel the same hopelessness and abandonment that I felt the day I-” he looked at the hand you were going to hold- “found out who I was meant to be.”

You looked at the veiled pain shining through the hardness in his eyes; observing the way his chest heaved as he filled his lungs with air.

“If by ‘meant to be’ you mean the one being who was one of the greatest masterminds in taking down some psycho purple bald guy and his entire plan of endless killing, I’d say, yeah! That’s what you were always meant to be.”

Loki looked at you, his eyes a little moist as he gazed at the deep y/e/c in the windows to your soul- knowing there was no lie in there- breaking into a silent laugh.

“And you were also always meant to save my life last night. So, thank you so much for that,” you sang, making him hum in agreement with a smile you clearly had never seen before because the camera caught the beautiful daze you were in all the time he was smiling.

“And if it makes you feel even a little better, I did feel hopelessness and abandonment,” you added, the smile on his face eroding a little as he looked at you, “In fact I did feel it last night when I realised my on-paper parents had happily signed me off into Mr Stark’s care. I just got really good at hiding it because of years of practice.”

Both of you breathed in the comfortable silence surrounding you, taking in each other’s presence. Your fingers dug into the skin of your thumb before finally placing themselves over Loki’s hand and giving them a gentle pat.

“Don’t worry, Loki. Things will get better. You will get your happiness. You cannot escape from it forever.”

Loki’s crinkled brows looked at you with sheer amusement.

“Is that a threat?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You’re sleeping, aren’t you?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“So does this mean you have forgiven me?”

“Mm-hmm,” you affirmed with a nod and your purest smile making the God mirror you within seconds.

The camera caught Loki’s thumb rise a little to rub over your fingers, taking in the presence of your touch by his own.

“Hey Loki!” A voice from your door broke away the quiet and the touch both of you were content in, making you and him straighten up a bit.

The camera turned- but not before catching the colour rising in your and Loki’s cheeks- to see Bucky standing by the door with Zuko in his arms, trying to keep the fluff ball away from chewing his hair.

“Sam’s making spicey waffles and pancakes. You uhh…coming?”

Loki shifted a little, clasping his hands together, switching his gaze from Bucky to a smiling you.

Rubbing his hands on his thighs he got up and bent down to switch off your bedside side lamp.

“Get well soon, Y/N,” he sent his velvet voice into the air around you.

“Thank you, Loki.”

The camera caught the blush on your face that you tried to hide under your quilt as you closed your eye and fell asleep in no time.

Loki turned away from your side to walk towards the door only to stop abruptly right as he swerved to avoid running into V’s figure standing there in the dark looking at the God. His mess of a hair ran everywhere while his glasses were tilted over his still sleep-filled eyes.

“I heard waffles and pancakes,” his slumber-laden voice addressed the most important question.

Loki straightened V’s glasses. “You heard right,” he affirmed him with a pat on his back.

“Come,” Loki announced to your cousin, wrapping his arm around V’s shoulder, “let’s see what the bird makes with the grains.”


	4. Episode 4: Mission Scrabble

“Is he supposed to be doing that?”  
“…Is he not?”  
Bucky exhaled defeatedly, unaware of the camera sitting by the kitchenette island as he looked at Zuko lying on his back, his tongue out, sticking to the cold floor.  
“Pietro,” Bucky kept his voice low but with a stern edge, “did you feed him nuts again?”  
Pietro, who was half lying on the sofa by now, the hand holding all the nuts almost ready to fire one off in the air to catch hold with his mouth, paused and looked at the Sargeant, deciding what to say next.  
“…No?”

 **Bucky** : _Nuts are dry foods. You are not supposed to feed them to a little pupper. At least not more than three at once. Now that poor lad is lying on the floor as if it’s the middle of June._

 **Pietro:** _I fed Zuko around twelve or thirteen nuts I think. Why?_

“Pietro!” Wanda shouted just as she entered the lounge, throwing words at her brother in anger, while Pietro just rolled his eyes before evidently groaning and answering back in the same tone she did. Both them spat foreign words at each other while the camera panned in on Bucky cooing at Zuko before helping him up.  
There was a sudden change in Bucky’s expression- a confused surprised- as his eyes turned away from the pupper towards Pietro, who was standing there wide-eyed, looking offended at something his sister said.  
“You like Y/N?!” Bucky’s voice echoed.  
The entire lounge went silent as the twins realised they were not the only one who understood their mother tongue.  
“What?” Another voice came from the direction of the dorms.  
Every head-and the camera- turned to see Scott standing there evaluating what exactly to make of this new information.  
  
 **Scott:** _*texting someone furiously* it’s been… what… one day. One. Day. And some speedster is already out there loving half of my OTP?! Give me a break. *raises hands in the air* Give them a break!  
*looks at the cameraman with disgust*  
Of course, I know what OTP means, okay! *huffs and closes his phone with a click before crossing his arms over his chest* *looks at his fingernail* *shifts uncomfortably* *quietly as the camera pans in* Peter told me about it at Pepperoni’s wedding._  
  
Pietro looked back at his sister with a rage every sibling in the room was familiar with.  
“What about her?” Bucky stood up with Zuko whimpering in his hands, “does she like you?”  
Scott paused his breath as he stole a glance at the camera before looking at the speedster.  
Pietro shifted his weight between his legs, not really sure how to answer this question.  
“No, she doesn’t,” Wanda finally spoke, softly, her arms crossed across her chest.  
From the look being recorded, it was evident this was news to Pietro. All he was able to do was blink between her sister and the camera.  
“Thank God…” Scott sighed, catching himself under the surprised scrutiny of the three pair of eyes, as he paused his hands mid-air, “…that you got to know it early and prevented a heartbreak.”  
Scott patted Pietro on his back before turning to stretch the corner of his lip at the impulsive accident solely for the cameraperson to see.  
  
 **Scott:** _*beams* Of course, she doesn’t like him. Not that he’s not good. He’s great! *shrugs* *stretches his words* he’s just not Loki.  
*falls silent* *speaks to himself*What’s happening?  
*looks back at the camera with a shrug* I am turning into a fangirl and why have never been this happy in my life before?_  
  
A blurpy ring echoed through the lounge, catching everyone’s attention before Steve walked in from the elevator.  
“We’ve got a situation. Friday,” he announced into the air before the camera caught his smouldering look from a low angle, “tell the Avengers to assemble.”  
  
 **Ten minutes later, The Dorms**  
Loki walked out of his room and smacked right into a sleepy you coming out of yours.  
“Sorry,” you winced, before turning into the direction of the lounge, “and Good morning. It’s morning, right?”  
You yawned shamelessly, earning a chuckle from the God. “Yes, Y/N, it is morning. Looks like you’re feeling better.”  
“Morning Javier,” you declared to the camera with a nod, “yes, I am feeling a lot better. Bucky’s whole brandy thing worked like magic.”  
Loki forced out a laugh, his perfect white teeth out for the camera. “Well, looks like you really haven’t seen real magic, have you, darling?”  
At his address, you stole a look at the camera, pressing your lips together, never pausing your walk out of the corridor as you turned towards him. “Something you’d be interested in showing me…darling?”  
Loki licked his lips before bringing his dominant hand forward. And just as he did that, flickering light of gold and green hues danced on his long fingers, allowing the camera to pan in on your slightly open mouth and wide eyes looking at the waves in pure awe.   
“I could make entire populations disappear with a twist of my hand,” he stated matter-of-factly before his eyes landed on those mesmerised eyes of your looking at him, dripping in unadulterated admiration, a smile fogging your lips.   
“You can?!” Your voice questioned him with enthusiasm, “and where do they go? Is there like a…a… what’s the word for it…another dimension where you send them?”  
The glimmer in your eyes was hard to miss even for the trickster. And suddenly the God forgot what he was about to say next.  
  
 **Loki:** _*constricting brows* Are we sure she’s a human? A…normal human? Because she does not give reactions like one._  
  
“They…” He tried to calculate the composition of his sentence as his gaze shifted between you and the camera, “vanish. Obliterate. Poof. Gone.”  
And he stood there, waiting for the bomb to fall as you looked up, your fingers moving with a life of their own, pointing at the virtual fact that he just stated.   
“So…is it fission or fusion? Do people explode or implode?”  
  
 **Loki:** _*raises his hands with in exasperation* what even… *shuts his mouth, moving one hand to his lips while the other rests on his hips as he leans forward in his seat* hmmm…*whispers to himself* remember she’s not trying to get under your skin. *looks at a distant void* Maybe she really is Stark’s daughter._  
  
And just as he had created the glittering wave on his hand, he made it disappear, his observant eyes still not leaving you. “I…I don’t know,” he concluded, his lips turned into a thin line.  
You let out a slight, narrow-eyed ‘hm’ before walking into the lounge, stopping in mild shock at the scene that awaited there.  
Dead silence surrounded you and the God. Not even the slightest flutter could be heard out there.  
“Where…” your eyes moved around the place, “is everyone?”  
The camera shifted to a bewildered Loki for answers, who was scrutinising his hands with a hint of shock before a beep sounded through the room.  
“Good morning Y/N, Loki. You have a message from Mr Lang,” Friday’s voice echoed.  
“Morning Friday,” you greeted the AI before she popped out a video message on the decorative mirror on the side wall next to you.  
“Hey, Y/N. It’s me, Scott,” he began, clearly having recorded the message sitting by the kitchenette, “we were alerted about a new mission so we had to go out before you woke up. So, don’t be scared if there are a few Avengers missing around you, okay? And I hope Loki’s up too by now. Sam and Bucky left you two some waffles and omelette. Make sure you eat it all because you’re going to need it. Also, Clint has gone grocery shopping so he’ll be back soon. Don’t be scared if he comes in by the first or second or whatever floor he perches up on.”  
Scott looks at something or someone outside the field view of the camera before inching closer to the screen.  
“Listen,” he whispers with dead concern in his eyes, “when we come back tell Sam you liked his omelette and tell Bucky you liked his waffles, okay? These two  are in the verge of starting a cage match as soon as they find a good setting- SO YEAH TAKE CARE, YOU GUYS!!”  
Scott’s voice rose before the camera caught Sam going towards the elevator.  
“Oh, and before I forget,” he came back to face the screen, his brows rising while his lips formed a soft 'o’, “you two will have to behave today.”  
Loki huffed with his quirked brow quirking up a little more. “Why? What are we? His kids?”  
The words barely left Loki’s mouth when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open for you to let out a tiny gasp.  
“Cassie’s coming over,” he announced through the camera, “so, play nice, okay? You two are grownups now so I want you to behave like one. No soda tonight. Juices only. Especially you, Y/N. You need your sleep and a stable heartbeat. And Loki, you better play nice with the new kid. And don’t do anything you would do when I’m around.”  
Loki turned to look at the little offspring dressed in a blue sweatshirt and black jeans smiling and waving at him and you as she came out of the elevator, carrying a bag on her back.  
“Hey, guys.” The sweetest voice filled the air as the camera panned on the cutest girl with the purest toothless smile at the person standing behind the camera.  
  
 **The Quinjet**  
“Will she be okay?” Natasha unbuckled herself before turning on the autopilot as the camera turned to a blank Scott and Steve beside her.  
“Yeah, she’ll be fine,” he responded with a shrug and soft smile, “she’s a well-behaved kid. Right, Scott?”  
Natasha shifted her head a little to the back where Steve sat. “Oh! I was…talking about Y/N.”  
Scott’s brows shot up while Steve’s constricted in mild confusion.  
“And why are we bringing them-” Sam pointed at the person behind the camera while looking straight at Steve before cutting himself short and turning his head towards the said person- “why are you here? You do realise we’re going on a mission right? Guns blazing, bombs detonating, drug cartels, magic, aliens, all that shi-”  
“They’re here because they promised me to not get in the way and shoot from a considerable distance. Isn’t that right, Ana?”  
There was a shuffle behind the camera before Sam stretched his lips. “Yea you better keep your word, Ana.”  
“Should we really have left him behind instead of taking him with us?” Natasha grumbled as she slipped her gun into her holster.  
“Oh, I think it’s better Loki doesn’t throw hands with any human for now,” Steve declared shifting his shield behind his back.  
“I think she’s talking about Barton, Captain,” Scott interjected politely before putting on his suit’s helmet, making Steve turn towards the Black Widow- who nodded in agreement with the Ant-Man- and eventually forcing him to let out a slightly defeated sigh.  
  
 **The Lounge**  
The camera angled near the grey tiled floor on the first level panned in on an oblivious Clint coming in from the entrance, whistling his own tune and entering the elevator.  
The ding echoed in the empty lounge as he stepped inside with bags full of groceries in both hands. The tick of the wall clock was an eerie addition to the already mind-numbing silence around him.  
He stepped in but not without giving a cautious once over to the area- the camera behind the potted plant catching every tiny change in his features.  
“Y/N?” He called out in concern.  
“Loki,” came out more like a threat.  
A slight brisk of fabric somewhere near him made him pause by the island near the kitchenette to drop the grocery bags before sliding his hand towards the knife resting on the cold marble top.  
The next second, the camera was trying to follow the swish of that smooth metal across the room landing on the wall next to a smirking Loki’s ear as you and Cassie popped out from behind the sofa with the cries of 'Geronimo!!!’ to attack the archer with full force.  
A wild bewildered scream left the unprepared Hawkeye as you and Cassie jumped on him and tackled him down.  
“Aw!” Left his lungs as he felt his body hit the ground while trying to shield the girls from the impact.  
A cackle vibrated through the air for a good while before he was really able to shift and sit upright.  
“Cassie! What’re y-Oh jeez! Did Scott forget he was spending time with you?” Clint asked with genuine concern as he patted and messed her hair.  
“No silly,” Cassie responded with her cutest smile, “he told me he was going out on a mission. So I’m spending the day with Y/N and Loki. We’re playing laser tag. Wanna join us? We’ll be able to make up teams!!”  
“Oh! Oh!” You nearly shouted, jumping up and down,“ I call dibs on Cassie!!!”  
Cassie responded with a perfectly timed high five, as the camera caught a line of discomfort running over Clint’s brows.  
“You girls clearly have it all sorted out already haven’t you?” The archer gives you a signature dead stare followed by a warm smirk.  
“Oh yes, we did, Barton!” You responded without even taking a breath, “I know you and Loki can’t even stand each other, making you the perfect team to beat for us girls. Hah!!”  
  
 **Y/N:** _*giggles* What?! *shrugs suggestively* All is fair in love and war, darling! *giggles some more* I’m so wicked sometimes. *hides her face in between her palms*_  
  
Clint’s crinkled brows looked between your team and Loki before raising both his hands in the air. “I could defeat all three of you on my own, you know.”  
“No!” Cassie shakes her head, continuously, “it’s all team play, Mr Barton. It’s a girl vs boys and we are going to wreck the two of you to pieces.”  
A low snicker left Loki before he tried to clear his throat as sophisticatedly as he could.  
  
 **Cassie:** _Daddy said I was supposed to babysit Mr Barton and I think I’m doing a pretty good job till now. *most precious smug grin*_  
  
 **Quinjet**  
“Yup, the heat signatures coming off that thing are definitely alien,” Natasha announced for everyone gathered around the holographic image of what seemed like a box encrusted with a jagged blue stone right in the middle at the top of it.  
“How alien?” Scott asked, scratching the back of his ear, “Like country-wise alien or universal alien?”  
“What kind of country would carry some weird looking Pandora’s box that could probably have some dead disease inside it,” Sam quipped as he stood beside the Ant-Man with his arms crossed over his chest, already playing the exhaustion inside his head.  
Scott blinked. “Ours, man.”  
Sam turned towards him, pausing for a few moments. “Shit, you’re right.”  
The camera turned towards the stoic Steve, his thumbs in his belt loops, observing the alien technology for a good minute before finally moving to zoom out the hologram to show scientists working on it inside a heavily guarded building somewhere below a deserted town in the States.  
“Okay,” Steve declared, making everyone around him shift into a much more alert mode, “we need to split up. Sam, you’ll be moving in from the northern tunnels. Scott, Pietro and Bucky will be with you. You need to retrieve that box. Nat, Wanda and I will take the southwest end to keep the security on their toes the moment you give us a go. Ana, you will stay here. The Quinjet is cloaked so you won’t be discovered. Do not move outside till it is safe, okay? You can watch us live on those cameras here.”  
“Yes! Team Cats and Team Dogs!” Scott pumped his fist in the air before giving a light punch in Pietro’s chest. “And our human in the chair,” he added while finger gunning at Ana behind the camera.  
“Ow! Dude!” Pietro grunted, clearly not in the mood to play.  
“Man, what’s with the sexist team names?” Sam twisted his hand in question.  
The camera panned in on a confused Scott, Natasha and Wanda.  
“Sexist?” Wanda wondered out loud, “Sam, you are team cat.”  
Pietro looked at the camera with a defeated roll of his eye.  
  
 **Pietro** : _I am a smelly feline who came back to life just to have his heart broken before it even began beating. *camera pans in on his sad features* I hate my life. I was better off dead._  
  
 **The Avengers Facility**  
“It’s a vent. I’m sure you can slither through one if you wanted to.”  
Loki gave the camera a look as he inhaled deeply before turning to look at Clint.  
“I’m not going in the there,” he declared before putting on his vest and picking up the laser gun with a slight hint of disgust. “This better not be a real point and shoot weaponry.”  
Clint chuckled. “Why? Scared your hand might slip?”  
“No,” Loki quipped, doing a quick study of the laser gun before wrapping his long fingers around them like he had been holding it like a second habit, “scared you might let that thing go off on me without much reason.”  
“Touché,” Clint muttered before slinging the gun on his shoulder, “come on let’s get this over with. I can only stand near you for so long.”  
“I’m not a rabid dog, Clint.”  
“True. They’re much better,” Clint muttered before he disappeared in the vents above, leaving a slightly irritated Loki to breathe easy before moving out of the room.  
The other camera rested by the bedside in Scott’s room, catching the sound of Loki’s receding footsteps before turning to look at the cupboard that opened slightly and out crawled you and Cassie.  
“You know what to do?”  
Cassie nodded before giving you an affirmative fist-bump.  
You began to get up when she pulled you back down by your tee.   
“Y/N, you have to promise me something,” Cassie ordered with great resolve in her eyes.  
“What?” Your eyes displaying the dazed shock the was dripping down on your features.  
“No matter what, you will not fall for the enemy.”  
The smile hovering over your lips was broken down into a serious expression- the best possible you could manage in that second.  
“Yes, Captain,” you complied with a nod and a salute before carefully tiptoeing your way out of the room.  
The camera turned back to Cassie, who sat there beside the half-open closet door.  
“I low-key hope she breaks the promise, Javier,” she confesses with a self-validating nod.  
  
 **Cassie:** _*swings her legs while sitting on the chair* Daddy loves talking about Y/N and Loki. He says those two are the cutest dorks of opposite natures he has ever seen. Like, she’s the sweetest and most caring while Loki is blunt and straightforward; not someone who would likely tell you what’s going on in his head. When he talks about them has the same expression on his face when he is watching a romantic movie he really likes.  
*tilts her head* I think I should keep away his shoujo mangas for a while._  
  
“The left! Move to your left!”  
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  
“Just shut up and go left.”  
“Stop shouting. What’s the point of stealth if you keep giving away my posi-”  
A gentle tap on the shoulder followed by the sound and lights of Loki’s best lighting up made the God grunt with displeasure.  
“Gotcha!” You shouted, lowering your gun.  
Without even a second’s delay, a low grunt echoed through the vents above you, followed by a piercing giggle and footsteps giddily running in your direction.  
“I got him!” Cassie raised her hand in a high five that you returned with equal enthusiasm.  
Both of you let out squeals of victory, jumping with sheer bliss as the camera captured the slight smirk building upon his lips while still looking at you and little Cassie.  
Clint came down the vent with a grumble- his jacket already lit up- finally breathing before looking at Cassie.  
“You, young lady,” he began, “are way too smart. So smart I cannot believe you are Lang’s daughter.”  
“It happens, Mr Barton,” Cassie responded with a weight of understanding in her voice, “sometimes don’t carry traits their parents possess and vice versa. For example, your kids might actually be good team players and great at finding a little girl before she finds them. Unlike you.”  
Your eyes and lips couldn’t believe what they heard as they widened. Loki’s lips, on the other hand, made an 'o’.  
Clint, on the other hand, stood there blank-faced, not really sure what to reflect on his features for the next few seconds.  
“I think Mr Barton would be needed some aloe vera, Cassie,” he added quite smoothly.  
  
 **Under the Quinjet & a Deserted Town**  
“Good girl, Rosantta!”  
“That’s…an ant,” Bucky pointed at the four feet tall and almost three feet wide Rosantta purring under Scott’s touch as she placed the alien Pandora’s box in his hands.

“Yes, the goodest little ant she is, isn’t she. Isn’t she!!” Scott cooed at the purring jovial ant before patting her and sending her away

“Are you two done? Can I clear the passageway for our escape now?” Pietro-who was leaning by the nearest concrete wall- pestered half-heartedly.  
“Will punching bad guys make you happy?” Scott genuinely questioned the young man.  
“It won’t make me any sadder,” Pietro mentioned with an unsure shrug, “at least it’ll take my mind off things I don’t want to think about right now.”  
Scott and Bucky exchanged a look before each of them let out a calculated sigh and looked at Sam, who seemed to be trying to climb up the wall as a curious Rosantta decreased the distance between the two of them.  
“Go ahead,” Sam nearly squeaked, “and…uhh… I’ll come with you.”  
The camera shifted from the video feed of team cat to team dog who was kicking ass in the opposite corner of the same structure, bringing down the bulkiest, even the most agile of guards one by one.  
  
 **Avengers Training Room**  
“How hard is it to keep your ears open and move left when I tell you to go left?” Clint nearly fumed as he entered the workout area, dropping his gun down on the rubber mattress in the middle of the room.  
“I don’t know, Barton, how hard is it being out-tongued by a feeble child,” Loki responded, his features glowing under the lights.  
Clint let out a forced laugh.  
“Just work with me for once and have some fun, Barton. I assure you I-”  
“The last time you made me do something, Loki, people died so I’m sorry I don’t want to let my guard down on the second date with you.”  
Silence engulfed the room as the camera positioned itself away and in a corner while recording the worked up veins that popped out on the back of Loki’s clenched hands and arms.  
“The only reason I am tolerating you here is that I trust Tony, Bruce and Thor. So help you Gods if you give me one reason to blow off your br-”  
“I’m sorry,” Loki muttered, audible enough that his dense, weighed down voice echoed through the large room. “I’m sorry that you were forced right into the middle of the…chaos that had unfolded after I was sent…after I came down here. I apologise for everything you did under my control that eroded some…better part of you in some way.”  
The silence now lingered on Clint’s side.  
“I was meant to die before any of this. After I fell down the Bifrost. But for some unfortunate reasons, I survived the fall. You are absolutely right in not trusting me. Even I would not trust the person who would have…toyed with my mind and twisted it to become a means to their end.”  
His thumbs rubbed over his knuckle and fingers with a life of their own before going for the straps holding the vest together and clicking it open.  
“I think I’ll study some old manuscripts in the library today. This game is quite boring anyway,” he concluded before moving the vest over his head to remove it and keep it on the table next to the nearest wall along with his laser gun.  
Clint’s eyes followed Loki’s back before his hand went through his hair and his lungs let out an elongated sigh.  
“You knew about my family.”  
Clint’s voice made Loki stop in his tracks.  
“You knew about them. You knew where they were. You also knew every last weakness of every Avenger when you mind-controlled me. But not once did you use any of that against us. Well, not in fatal ways at least and that thing bothers me till this day because I know every little thing I told you about. Every single secret I compromised. With the intel you had on the people you were standing up against I am pretty sure I could have destroyed them within the first ten minutes of walking into the room. But you didn’t. And that bothers me till this day. It bothers me that you wanted to rule earth but not even once you planned on taking down the Avengers.”  
The camera focused on Loki’s back, recording the rise and fall of his shoulders before Loki turned back to face Clint.  
“I might have been delusional but I wasn’t deranged. I never meant to go against the Avengers. I was meant to bring the tesseract to-” he paused, his eyes changing a shade for some reason- “the mad Titan. I just made sure earth’s mightiest heroes were successful in not allowing me to do exactly that.”  
Clint’s gaze didn’t break away from Loki’s until he saw the truth in his eyes. Moving away from him, he picked up his vest and gun and brought them to him.  
“Suit up, Grinch,” he declared before picking up his own gun, “we have some very smart girls waiting for us defeat them.”  
Loki’s face was a mixture of surprise and positive amusement as he took his things from Clint’s hands.  
“So, we’re not going easy on them?”  
“Do they look like they need us to go easy on them?”  
“Touché.”  
Discussing their plan of action, they walked out of the room. Another camera recording them go from the observation room upstairs turned towards the figured standing inside the glass-walled room.  
Your lips didn’t stop stretching from the smile that played with your lips as you watched the scene unfold before turning to your partner in crime.  
“I think we might lose this round, Cassie,” you stated to the little girl as you slung your gun over your shoulder.  
“Oh, I think we won this round by a really good score,” the little one responded with her signature toothless smile.  
“I love you so much,” you concluded before wrapping her up in the warmest hug.  
  
 **Cloaked Quinjet**  
“No.”  
“Why not? I like her.”  
“Jesus Christ woman!”  
“I like her too.”  
“Aw!”  
“Are you g- she’s an ant!”  
“And?”  
Sam’s hand curled into a fist that rested in front of his lips, clearly not being able to absorb the reactions.  
“Sam, she’s just an ant,”  Steve said with a slight shrug making the Falcon open his hands to the things unfurling around him.  
“She’s more than just an ant though,” Scott stated, “she’s a really close friend.”  
When he was out of Sam’s vision, Steve tried to press away the smile creeping over his lips.  
“I can not- okay. Mm. Ants aside. What are we doing with this alien vanity box?”  
Wanda raised a brow at Sam while Natasha moved towards the table to place on the table.  
“I was able to hack into their systems before we destroyed all their data. Turns out this isn’t the only box. Others that we know about are not in a single place either. Scattered around the world, under the scrutiny of the highest bidder and the most powerful hand. Do you know what this means?”  
A long sigh left nearly all of the people present I side the Quinjet.  
“It means I won’t get to play scrabble with Cassie today,” Steve muttered under his breath, making Scott give him a gentle pat on his back.  
  
 **The Lounge**  
“Hey! Hey! Hey! No vocabulary that doesn’t belong to humans!” Clint shouted, forcing you to break into a laugh, almost collapsing over an exasperated Loki- who was sitting by your side.  
“Are you serious Barton?” The God crinkled his brows.  
“Don’t laugh it’s not funny!”  
You tried to calm your flurried nerves while wiping away the hot tears from your face as you looked at Clint again, the painted curled moustache over his face making you nearly break into a laugh again.  
Your Spotify playlist played in the background over the speakers and thanks to FRIDAY, all the explicit songs had been removed till Cassie was home.  
“B-but it is …a word, Clint!” You finally managed to say.  
“No, it’s not,” Clint retorted.  
“Yes, it is, Mr Barton,” Cassie acknowledged, showing him the dictionary on her phone.  
You took a few popcorns from the bowl and tried to shove them all in your mouth, failing to stuff every last one as they rolled away from your lips and down into your lap.  
The camera took in the long fingers that carefully picked them up and popped them inside the thin lips.  
“I think it’s time you went back to school, Barton,” Loki iterated, crunching down on the popcorns inside his mouth.  
Clint let out a laugh.  
“Go ahead, Cassie,” he added, “show this God what you can do.”  
Cassie added two letters to the already planted words to make a better, stranger sophistication of gibberish that was now beyond you.  
“Wow, Cassie! I don’t even know half of these words! You are amazing at Scrabble!” You were genuinely impressed.  
“She is,” Loki agreed, “at least one of you is smart enough to not be boring.”  
You gasped, trying to look offended before letting out a chuckle that closed your eyes.  
“Aw! Loki! You think I care if you find me boring,” you chortled, pinching his cheeks gently before he moved his cheeks away from you.  
“Stop it,” he grunted.  
But you pinched them again, your giggles filling the lounge.  
“Look at you, glowing after you won that last round,” you added, picking more popcorns in your hand.  
“Oh it was really easy to beat you, darling,” Loki quipped, popping another corn in his mouth quite effortlessly.  
“Right. Right,” you affirmed, putting in no efforts to hide your smirk as you locked eyes with a grinning Cassie sitting opposite you by the coffee table.  
Clint and Loki saw the exchange and had to look at each other to confirm what they were seeing was not some illusion.  
“We beat you fair and square,” Loki added, “we just couldn’t do it earlier because Barton here was able to make his bird brain work on time.”  
“Hey!” Clint shot, visibly offended.  
“Of course,” you stated with a nod, “you won it…fair and square.”  
Loki and Clint looked at you and Cassie with pure judgement in their eyes, even narrowing them in full suspicion.  
A second later you and your newest little friend burst into snickers, making both the men even more confused and slightly irritated.  
  
 **Cassie** : _I think I get why daddy likes Y/N and Loki together._  
  
A camera shows the footage of you leaning towards Loki to pet a sleepy Zuko resting in his lap while telling the God something that makes him smile when you’re not looking at him.  
  
 _They might not always show it but making the other person happy makes them happy._  
  
The frame shows you standing on the couch, shifting your weight from one leg to another. “Ready?” You ask the three people in front of you.  
Cassie jumps where she stands. Clint stretches his arms. Loki just sits there on the carpet where he sat next to you before- his legs bent while his hands rest over each other on the knees.  
“Okay,” Clint declares, looking at his stopwatch, “your time…starts…NOW!”  
You look at Loki and gesture at his hair.  
“My hair…black.”  
You nod showing him your five fingers.  
“Fingers. Five. Black is the fifth word.”  
You nod again with a smile before pointing at the yellow and red band you and he were given by Cassie and intertwining your fingers.  
“You and me…no…your band and…mine. Yell-Orange!”  
You nodded again, your excitement forcing you to jump while making him sit straight and lean in closer in your direction.  
  
 _I hope they become good friends. Like Hope and daddy. Having each other’s back.  
*grins*  
Maybe I will read some shoujo mangas when I turn sixteen. *nods and chuckles with unadulterated joy*_


	5. Episode 5: I Think I Spoke Too Soon

“What are you still doing here?”  
Loki asked the half awake figure coming out from the dorms while enjoying his tea, already dressed in a black sweater and blue jeans for the day.  
“Making sure the ships are a-sailing,” Cassie announced with a yawn before climbing over the stool and facing Loki. The camera panned in on his slightly irritated, slightly amused features as he didn’t break eye contact while sipping his tea.  
“What ships?”

“Nothing that concerns the ship. What are we doing today?” Cassie asked as she tilted her head to one side to rest it on her palm and passed a soft smile towards the God.

  
**Loki** : _I wonder if Scott is aware of the things I have done during the one time I visited earth. If he did, I don’t think he would have left his daughter with me, a deranged archer and a woman with serious family issues. *raises the cup to sip tea but stops* Of course, I’m the one to talk about family issues. I have a doctorate in that area *smirks and sips his hot brew*  
Also, it’s funny I miss Y/N’s cousin now that he’s gone. He was more bearable than many of the people living here._

 **You** _: Of course, V was bearable. He’s a genius done with this world and ready to die at any moment. I feel Like Loki’s a millennial too, in his own peculiar ways. Both these boys need a hug, someone or something to look forward to and lots of love. *smiles*_  
  
“Don’t have school, little one?” Loki asked quite politely.  
“It’s Wednesday. I don’t have school till Monday,” Cassie answered, already leaning over the counter, her eyes drooping.  
“Of course, you don’t,” he muttered to himself before dropping the newspaper he had been reading.  
“How about a mock fight. Like defence lessons?”  
Loki looked at the innocent curious eyes watching him from the other side of the counter.  
“Why would _you_ need defence lessons?” He heard himself say with an ounce of genuine concern.  
Cassie sighed before raising her head and stretching her arms over the counter.  
“Daddy told me about how that one bad guy had sneaked in during Ms Potts and Mr Stark’s wedding and tried to hurt Y/N and Javier. He also told me you had made sure he didn’t do anything bad to either of them. It got me worried. What if someone tried to hurt me and I didn’t know how to fight back and there was no one to help me? I should know how to throw a mean punch, right? Both my dads have taught me some moves but it never hurts to learn some more.”  
Loki’s eyes turned towards the camera before coming back to the little one sitting in front of her. “I think whatever your dads have taught you is sufficient. There’s is nothing more I could teach you.”  
With a soft ‘hmmm’ Cassie spread her palms open on the cold counter before pressing her chin over them.  
Loki’s curious greens looked at those innocent eyes gazing at some invisible void in the far end beside him, wondering what could that little brain be thinking.  
“What?” He finally asked her, forcing her brilliant pupils to turn to him.  
“I was wondering what would have happened if you had not been there to save Y/N.”  
Loki went silent, his lips parted in some half thought, blinking once before he turned to look at the camera.  
  
**Loki** : _*lips form an o* *mindlessly rubs thumbs over his fingers* *shifts a little in the chair* *looks into the camera* *sighs*_  
  
**Quinjet**  
“Ready?”  
“Nope.”  
Scott sighed and let his head hang back. Wanda groaned before turning towards her brother.  
“Get over it, Pietro. She doesn’t have any feelings for you. Respect that and move on,” she spewed in his direction before taking the tab from him.  
“I am _trying_ to get over it. It’s not a light bulb I can just switch off, Wanda. Give me some time!”  
Scott exhaled, rubbing his eyes.  
“He’s right, Wanda. Give him some time. I’m sure you know that better than anyone. Let him brood a little and then some more and then maybe a little more,” Scott nearly begged the Scarlet Witch, which made her cut a look at him.  
“Oh, I’m all in for him brooding. I really am,” she responded, nodding wildly, “I’m just not ready to go through his gory goth phase of a breakup. It is so bad you could create an American reality show over it for the next seven years.”  
Sam looked up from the drone he was working on, arching a brow at her. “Come on, how bad can it be.”  
  
**Wanda** : _The first time a girl dumped him he adopted every stray animal he could find. *camera pans in* that included the wolves and wild foxes he would find in the forest._  
*sits up in her seat* when a girl he asked out said no, he went to every pub in the nearby town and drank soda as if they were shots of vodka till his stomach hurt and he was running through the village in the middle of the night singing his favourite love songs.  
*makes a face of disgust* not to mention when he hit puberty-  
**Pietro** : _*in the background, working on the drone with Sam* shut it, Wanda!_  
*camera zooms to a frustrated Pietro before coming back to Wanda*  
Wanda: *presses her lips and lowers her gaze* *leans towards the camera and whispers* toxic by Britney Spears was the only song on his playlist.  
  
**The Facility**  
The camera followed Clint walking out of the elevator and moving towards the training room.  
“It’s _so good_ to sleep past ten when no one’s home,” he stated to the camera with a jump in his step as he moved towards the hall before stopping in his tracks and signalling the camera behind him to do the same.  
A faint sound of light bickering could be heard somewhere behind the walls as Clint turned towards the recording device with furrowed brows. “Do you hear that?”  
The microphone with the camera positioned itself near the wall.  
“Loki, that’s _not_ how these things go,” a familiar muffled voice came from the other side. Your voice.  
“You’re right,” Loki responded- quite calmly, “that is never how these things go. Now, spread your legs.”  
Clint’s brows furrowed further as he mouthed a 'what’ at the wall.  
“Is it going to hurt?” Your voice asked with pure concern.  
“Do I need to explain to you how these things go?” Loki’s voice speculated.  
“No!” You nearly shouted, “I know how these things go. Just be a little considerate, okay? _This_ is my first time.”  
Like a flash of lightning striking right through his heart, Clint’s eyes went wide in pure horror as he ran towards the door.  
“Just spread your legs and I’ll walk you through the rest,” Loki’s voice pointed out as the camera hastily followed a frantic Clint through the door, watching him almost unhinge the metal frame and grab a bow and arrow in a blink-and-you-miss move by the armoury kept right beside the entrance and moving towards the two figures in the middle of the training room lying on the mat.  
Loki was bent, his arms locking you under him while his body rested between your legs.  
“What the f*** do you think you’re doing?!” Clint roared as the arrow swiftly landed on the bow and gained the potential with the stretch.  
“Woah!” You shouted as your head turned towards Clint.  
“Barton! Language!” Loki echoed, not making any efforts to move from over you.  
“What the f-” Clint stopped mid-sentence as he saw you raise and twist your hands in question while Loki pointed out at someone.  
The camera turned towards Cassie sitting over the boxing ring platform looking at Clint before waving in his direction with a bit of unsurety.  
A baffled Clint looked at Cassie before turning back to you lying under Loki in quite a seemingly comprising position before a frustrated ’ _what the hell is happening here?!_ ’ left his lung.  
  
**Clint** : _*huffs and rubs his hands over his face* Loki was not trying to harass Y/N. *gives the signature dead look to the camera* I have a gutter mind and I am wholly responsible for it._  
*sighs* Happy?  
*camera pans out to reveal Loki sitting next to him*  
**Loki** : _It’s the little one you should be apologising to._  
*camera pans out further*  
**Cassie** : _The f-word shouldn’t be used in front of kids, Mr Barton. You can do it when I’m not in the room._  
*Clint rests his cheek on his fist and lets out a tired exhale*  
  
“He’s showing me tactics on how to tackle a mugger or a potential rapist,” you stated matter of factly as you positioned yourself on your elbows while Loki sat on his knees to help Clint get a little uncomfortable as possible.  
“And you thought he would be the best person to go to?” Clint questioned you before turning to Loki, “no offence.”  
“None taken,” the God acknowledged with a cocked brow at the archer.  
“He volunteered,” you shrugged, “and I could really use some lessons considering the unruly crowd on my campus.”  
The camera caught Loki crossing his arms over his chest before Clint’s hands went over his hips.  
“I’ll volunteer. You, get away from her,” the archer declared.  
“Okay,” you agreed, “but you have to act properly. No holding back.”  
Clint’s crinkled brow and a twisted hand questioned your words. “What does that even mean?”  
“She means you have you act like a predator Mr Barton,” Cassie mentioned, her legs swinging as she tried to make it easier for Clint to understand.  
“You mean I…what? No, I’m _not_ doing that.” He shook his head.  
“That’s not very rapey of you, Clint,” you pointed out.  
“She’s right,” Loki added, “how will she learn to defend herself if she doesn’t know what’s going to happen in a real situation?”  
The camera caught the dilemma on Clint’s face before the eyes looked right back at the screen with the look of unwanted defeat.  
  
**Clint** : _Stark’s going to kill me. I just hope I vanish from this planet before that._  
  
“So, you’re the expert on rapists now?” Clint narrowed his eyes at Loki.  
“I’m an expert at pretending to be something I am not,” Loki smirked smugly at the archer, forcing a tiny gasp out of you.  
“You’re an actor?! Did you learn theatre in Asgard?” You asked him with starry eyes, forcing Clint to look at the camera. “That was nowhere near what he just said!”  
**  
**Quinjet sitting inside some unknown Forest  
An out of breath Steve and Bucky entered the Quinjet followed by a scowling Natasha.  
“Here,” Bucky grunted as he kept a familiar alien box over the table and collapsed on the nearest makeshift bed. The only difference between the old alien box and new was the stones kept adorning the tops.  
“These Hydra remnants are really starting to piss me off,” Natasha hissed through her teeth as she threw her guns on the table that glided over the glass surface, and hit the new box in frustration, making it shift a centimetre towards the old one.  
The camera caught a spark shared between the two with a splintering sound before Pietro quickly moved the old box away from the new and dashed to the other corner of the Quinjet.  
Silence engulfed the plane as everyone tried to come in terms with the situation.  
“What. The hell. Was that.” Sam’s broken words were first to pierce through the static.  
“Did those boxes just-” Steve’s panting was cut through by a rumbling between the alien boxes making them shake- one over the table and other in Pietro’s hand.  
“Wanda!” Pietro cried out, not knowing what to do with this unknown alien artefact shaking vigorously in his hands.  
“Get out!” Steve shouted in quicksilver’s direction and felt a whoosh of air as the young man dashed out of the plane with the device, bringing everything back to whatever was normal in that situation.  
Everyone tried to catch their breath as the camera zoomed over to Pietro standing outside between trees with the box, keeping it down carefully and at a considerable distance from the Quinjet.  
“I hate this,” Sam declared through his lungful breaths, “I hate all of this. F*** this alien shit!”  
**  
**Training Room  
“I hate this.”  
Clint’s groans were drowned by your grunts as you tried to wriggle and kick your way out from under Loki and succeeded quite gracefully.  
“I did it!” You shouted, sweaty and breathless.  
“Yes, you did,” Loki confirmed as he gave you a hand to help you on your feet, catching you by your waist as you nearly lost your balance and giggled an apology, making the camera catch Clint groan some more as he closed his eyes.  
“Okay now you have to learn how to tackle someone who tries to attack from behind,” Loki began, pointing his index down and twirling it to signal you to turn around, “you have to turn your elbows into a weapon when the predator tries to stri-”  
The sudden touch of his hands over your shoulder and stomach created an unwanted reflex making you bend a little forward and plant your elbow right into his nose, forcing Loki to break right in the middle of his instructions, his head flying back just a little as his body tried to balance the inertia by straining to find a footing.  
“Woah!” escaped Cassie while Clint watched in complete awe as a grunt escaped Loki’s lungs.  
  
**Clint** : _*wide-eyed smile* maybe Stark won’t have to kill me after all. *sips coffee from a cup that says 'oh damn!’*_  
*content smile* today wasn’t that bad.  
  
“Oh, God!” You shouted in a flurry as the rush left you and you turned around to face an equally surprised Loki holding both his hands over his nose, “I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”  
You stepped towards him, your hands going for his face as words kept coming out of you, “You just touched me and my body wasn’t ready and I flinched hard and before I knew it my elbow was hitting your face. I am soooooooo sorry, Loki.”  
Loki took a step away from you before looking down at his hands. No Blood.  
“Well, at least we know I can land a mean punch,” you tried to laugh but eventually winced when Loki didn’t find it funny.  
  
**Loki:** _*furrowed bros and a slight tilt of his head* Suddenly I am slightly terrified of her._  
*narrows eyes*  
And slightly impressed as well.  
*licks his lips* She’s…good. *nods head* Dangerously clumsy but good.  
  
**You** : _*knees bent up till your chest while your hands cover your face* *muffled cry* Why?!! Arrgghh! Somebody kill me right now!_  
  
**Quinjet up in the Sky**  
The camera focused on a wary Scott poking the new box with a stick he picked up from the forest while Bucky sat beside him looking at him go at it.  
“You think there’s something living inside it?” Scott whispered to Bucky.  
“In the box?!” Bucky responded with the same pitch of whisper. “How would they survive in there?”  
“How did _you_ survive in your icebox?” Scott pondered out loud with genuine curiosity, making Bucky turn to face him, open his mouth to speak something before letting out a tired breath.  
“Fair enough.”  
“The package is ready. I’m feeding in the coordinates.”  
The camera turned to look at Natasha as she entered the latitude and longitude and the screen flashed 'Home’ on the screen.  
“Are you guys _sure_ about this?” Scott asked the Black Widow and Captain. “Should we really be sending that unidentified spooky box back home?”  
“It’ll be safer at the facility than within the vicinity of this other box,” Wanda argued politely.  
“She’s right,” Sam chimed in, “it’ll be safe in Bruce’s lab. Speaking of Bruce, Nat, when is he coming back from the world conference?”  
“Tonight. He’ll reach around eight,” she answered.  
“Perfect,” Steve declared, “send the package.”  
A glass compartment covered the box with a hiss, sealing it inside and sending it down before a small drone could be seen outside the jet going away.  
“Hey Captain,” Scott sang, still looking out of the window, at the drone, “you do realise all the adults are either here, in a world conference or on their honeymoon.”  
Wanda’s confused features part her lips to say something but Steve heard her take a breath.  
“He means Pepper,” he quickly whispered.  
“So, was it really a good idea to send that box home?” Scott scrunched his nose and the camera recorded the awkward silence around the Quinjet.  
Natasha long pressed a number on her phone and put it on her ear.  
“Hey, babe. Is there any way you could reach home sooner?”  
  
**Training Room**  
“I’m tired. And hungry,” you whined, lying flat on the training mat while Clint and Cassie slurped orange juice.  
“You still haven’t learned how to block attacks,” Loki announced, circling you, his black tee and hair drenched in sweat.  
“No-hoho!” You cried before curling up into a ball.  
Loki huffed. “Get up,” he ordered.  
“I’m _only_ getting up to eat something,” you muttered angrily while your stomach growled.  
“Just kick him in the balls and get it over with,” Clint encouraged from his end, crunching down on garlic chips.  
You got up on your feet and looked him right in his dark greens. “Loki, please,” you stated with utter seriousness, “I am done for the day. Let’s just do this tomorrow. It’s not like I’m going out into the wild to fight some sex hungry evil maniacs. I’ll be here tomorrow and so will you. Okay?”  
The camera carefully observed how Loki’s eyes did not leave you till he was sure of your words.  
“We’ll continue this tomorrow,” he finally announced, making you smile within an instant and give him one strong pat on the back.  
“Awesome! I’ll make you your favourite molten cake,” you chimed before skipping out of the training room with him.  
The camera turned back to Clint and Cassie still sitting there.  
“So,” Clint sighed, “what now?”  
“Now we let the heat cool off a little. We do not want to overwhelm the ship with too much in one go,” she simply mentioned before getting up and giving her hand to a blank-faced Clint.  
“I did not get a single word but I agree,” he responded, making her smile as they walked out.  
  
Thirty minutes later, you walk out of your room with wet hair, a fresh tank top, leggings and a thin blue shawl, smiling goofily at your phone.  
“Y/N, I kept my drawing notepad somewhere and now I cannot find it.”  
Wrapping an arm around her you cooed, “Aw, sweetie. Come, we’ll find it together,” and walked towards the training room and the labs.  
“Oh! By the way,” the camera caught you whisper to her, “the shirts that we ordered yesterday will be delivered in an hour.”  
Cassie gasped and jumped with joy, making you giggle as you two skipped hand in hand.  
“I cannot wait to see the look on Loki’s face,” she snickered as both of you entered Bruce’s lab.  
“Me too, darling!” You sang before stopping in your tracks.  
“Wait. We never came in the lab last night during hide-and-seek, did we?”  
Cassie shook her head.  
“Let’s go look in the library,” you added and turned towards the door, the camera following you.  
“What’s that?” You heard Cassie say, making both you and camera swivel back and find her standing next to an unmarked box with a crystalline stone on top, sitting over a small pedestal in one corner of the room.  
You moved closer to the object to get a better view.  
“I don’t know, sweetie,” you whispered, bending down to watch the light caught inside the multifaceted crystal make it shine as if there was another galaxy trapped inside it, “never seen it bef-”  
Crash.  
You and Cassie jumped where you stood as everyone inside the lab turned to find out the source of the sound.  
Loki stood in the doorway, his face turned white like snow while the white ceramic bowl of cheesy nachos he was holding lay broken on the ground.  
“Loki,” you called out softly yet effectively, “are you okay?”  
You turned and raised your feet to step towards him.  
“Do not move,” his voice echoed through the room as his fingers pointed you to stay still, freezing you and Cassie right where you stood.  
No one spoke for the next few seconds, trying to make sense of Loki’s sudden fear engulfing the entire room.  
“Loki, what’s going on,” your voice tried to remain as steady as possible, your eyes wavering to a confused Cassie looking between you and Loki.  
It started as a faint low pitched pounded vibration that increased with every passing second.  
Even when Loki had told her to not move, Cassie’s curious senses felt compelled to turn and look at the sound coming out of the box.  
Even the camera tried to turn a little.  
“DON’T MOVE!”  
“Loki!” Your pitch matched his as you turned your gaze to Cassie.  
“It’s okay, hon. Listen to Loki. He knows what he’s talking about,” you assured her.  
Loki’s entire body looked like it was on an edge where it stood, his eyes moving between your figures, the distance, the weird box and him.  
“Cassie-” he composed himself, bringing back the smoothness in his voice- “will it be all right if you stood still for just…three minutes more?”  
Cassie blinked the fear in her eyes and nodded.  
“Good,” Loki acknowledged with a slight nod, “good. You see, that object is trying to sense what is present around it. It’s like a… another planet’s version of Friday. It’s trying to find out about you, Y/N and Javier.”  
“Okay,” Cassie’s features were listening intently but her demeanour reflected a slight hint of an internal scare.  
“But it’s not as friendly as Friday so we will have to not make any sudden movements till it goes back to sleep. Okay?”  
Cassie nodded.  
Loki’s gaze turned back to you. The camera could see you trying your best to stay composed.  
“Just two more minutes,” he assured you.  
You nodded.  
“Are you all right?” You heard yourself.  
Loki blinked, a layer of moisture shining just at the brim of his lower eyelid.  
“I-”  
“Hey who dropped my nachos?!”  
A string of 'Clint no!’ rung up the air as he entered the lab, creating a considerable ripple in the space.  
The pounding low pitched vibration grew louder as the stone resting on top of the box started to light up. A low rumble came next followed by the flapping of pages from a book kept at the nearest table. Next followed a whirlpool of air that grew bigger and harsher with every second.  
“Cassie! Javi! Run!” You shouted in her direction as harsh blue lights erupted behind you, creating a warp of sorts.  
Before you could push Cassie towards Loki, a brutal stroke of light engulfed the room and the screen went black.  
Another camera that was in the lounge came running towards the lab as it saw a bright light erupt inside the glass walls. On reaching the doorway, it saw two figures lying on the floor, grunting and groaning as they tried to get up.  
“No,” Loki whispered into the empty air surrounding them while a bewildered Clint sat down on the floor at the scene in front of him.  
Nothing.  
There was no one else there except them.  
Pure static silence pierced the air with an occasional beep from the controls on equipment around the lab.  
“Stark’s not going to kill me,” he finally spoke, “he is going to skin me alive.”  
**  
**Unknown Location  
The blackness disappeared in pixels. Then came the sound. A faint hum.  
A blue hue engulfed the rocky ground that was being recorded by the device.  
“You’re awake,” your voice came from a distance, forcing the camera to shakily turn towards your figure that was perched up in a small rocky hill.  
Taking the shawl from your shoulders, you covered a dazed Cassie who stood beside you, as confused as you.  
“Where are we?”  
You shook your head, your eye never leaving whatever it is you were seeing behind those rocks.  
“I don’t know, Cassie,” you whispered.  
The camera came up beside you, Javier planting himself right next to the boulder you and Cassie were bent behind, hiding from something apparently.  
The camera caught the expanse of clear sky showing the space like never before. An asteroid passed by while a moon, dull grey in shade, stood near to the ground the camera was on.  
Something slithered behind the rocks at a distance that was quite far but easy for the camera to zoom in and catch the movement, glint of gold caught as whatever dipped behind the rocks.  
Somewhere a bird-like screech erupted and echoed around them, forcing you to wrap your arms around Cassie.  
“Y/N,” Cassie spoke, her voice filled with curiosity, “I don’t think we’re on earth anymore.”


	6. Episode 6: Nine Lives

“It was in my bucket list, you know, to one day explore space, travel to another planet…with one of the guardians, maybe. Meet the Captain. Geek out about the stars and aliens. Make extraterrestrial friends too. Well, given my poor social skills, maybe just make one alien friend. Have good times. Maybe even witness a galactic war of sorts? Not that I want it to happen, just…if it happens.”  
A long sigh escaped through your whispered words as you lay in the dirt looking up at the purple moon in the sky.  
“It was on my bucket list too.”  
The camera panned out to show Cassie lying beside you, wrapped up in your shawl.

“It was?” You smiled at the little girl and she nodded back with a smile of her own before turning to look back at the moon.  
“I’m sorry, Cassie, Javier,” you blurted out of nowhere, “sorry for dragging you in this with me. I knew my curiosity would be the…um…would lead me into dangers.”  
The camera shifted by your side and slender fingers tapped your shoulder to make them turn to Javier behind the camera.  
“He’s right,” Cassie added, “don’t blame yourself. None of us knew this would happen,” forcing a teary smile out of you.  
  
 **You** : _*sitting at some distance from Cassie who is fiddling with your phone while showing Javier something on it* So, we are stuck on an alien planet…and technically I am the adult here which *forces out a laugh* is not good for those two young souls. *push yourself closer to the camera to whisper* I am barely holding myself together and I have no idea how to assure them that we’d get out of this place intact! F***! *buries her face in her hands* why did I always have to be so enchanted by dangerous things!!!_  
  
“Hey,” you suddenly sat up, “I almost forgot. You guys didn’t even have dinner. Aw shoot! I should find something for us to eat.”  
“With that thing lurking around?”  
The camera turned up from your figures to move beyond the stony little hill you were hiding behind to look at something slithering beyond the giant rocks that stood at far off distance, glistening under a lone distant star burning blue.  
The camera zoomed back to capture the view of your and Cassie’s heads peeping from where you hid, whispering to each other.  
“That thing almost looks metallic,” you wondered out loud.  
“Yeah. Like a huge metallic caterpillar,” Cassie stated.  
Turning away from the view, you carried a distant look in some deep thought.  
“Why does that metal caterpillar look so fami-”  
Your words got lost as your brows rose up in some sudden realisation before a screeching sound echoed through space, originating from the same place where the caterpillar had been.  
  
 **You** : _*alone again with just the camera* *lips pressed in fear, worry and a cold realisation* mm *exhales* I think I might have a theory as to why Loki reacted the way he did in the lab. *shakes head* *whispers with choked voice* it’s not a good theory._  
  
 **The Facility**  
Silence engulfed the place as Loki sat by the glass wall looking out from the lounge with his elbows on his knees, his hands covering his mouth, a contemplating look hovering over his face while his eyes glistened in the soft lights.  
Clint sat by the kitchen island, his head buried in his hands.  
The camera stood at a distance to record both of them in the same frame in the silence.  
“Dr Banner has arrived home,” Friday’s voice pierced through the deafening silence, making both heads tilt a bit up as they were broken out of a morbid trance.  
The elevator doors opened and in came Bruce.  
“Holy nerds!” He chortled as he walked in with a package ripped open with black fabric hanging out from it while he held up one to show the silent audience.   
“Oh God! Look at this. I bet this was either Scott or Y/N. It has their name written all over it! Loki look!!”  
Bruce held up the fabric- which turned out to be a T-shirt that had something written in different languages with a cartoon filling up the centre.  
  
 **Bruce** : _*standing right there in the lounge* Look!*excitement brimming over the edge from his face as he holds the tee up for the camera* So this *points at the green cartoon that looks like a smooth long green vegetable wearing a golden helmet with a pair of slim horns pointing upwards while a stick hand comes out from one side to hold up what looks like a fork with two prongs with a discoloured pea stuck in between them* is our famous God of mischief *tries to control his laughter* and this *points to the words under the cartoon* says, in Hindi, Lau-key which is a pun on Loki and the vegetable t-the gourd and under it, it says Gourd of Mischi- *breaks into uncontrollable laughter*  
*camera zooms out of Bruce- trying to stand straight through the laughter fit- to zoom in to a weary Clint and Loki looking at the camera with their arms crossed*  
*Loki looks at Bruce before tilting a little towards Clint*  
_ **Loki:** _*whispers* should we tell him?  
_ **Bruce:** _*through the breathless chortles* t-tell me what?_  
  
 **Bruce** : _*wide-eyed and pale-faced, looking like he is about to cry or have a heart attack* What the f-_  
  
 **Alien Planet**  
“Okay. Okay. So,” you breathed in the cold air, flawlessly hiding the shivers from the hopeful pair of eyes looking at you, “considering we are stranded on some…rocky ground I’d like to think it starts and ends somewhere if it’s not round.”  
Cassie stood beside Javier, intently listening to you.  
“So our best bet would be to get as far away from these caterpillars as possible because umm… I’m not sure how exactly do their senses work in finding something…not normal in their surrounding.  
  
 **You** : _*blank face* I suck at encouragement talks. There’s a reason I don’t have many close friends as you can see. *nods before a sullen wave washes your features* The reason I am so going to die alone. *looks around* Probably on this planet._  
  
"Okay. We’ve been seeing them moving just there, right,” you mentioned while pointing to the hill of rocks on the other side.  
A small gasp escaped Cassie as the camera zoomed in on something moving behind you near your feet.  
“Y/N?” Cassie called out a soft concerned warning.  
“Yes, Cass? Are you cold?”  
“No,” she replied with a head shake, “there’s something near your legs.”  
No more had she uttered the sentence when you felt something soft and apparently warm rub against your calf, making you jump with a shriek and flash to where Cassie and Javier stood, forcing high-pitched cries out of both of them.  
The camera jerked and tilted as Javier tried to gather himself.  
“Oh my God,” your voice came before the camera stabled itself and focused on your bewildered face, “oh my God. Oh, my holy freakingness!”  
The camera turned towards the direction Cassie and your eyes were stuck in with gaping mouths and saw a ginger cat sitting there watching the three of you with wide eyes before a curious meow left her.  
The camera turned to you and you towards the camera, your eyes still wide in disbelief.  
“How the heck did I teleport a cat here?!”  
  
 **The Lab**  
“Are you sure it won’t blow off again?”  
Clint and Bruce stood in the doorway while Loki was standing beside the alien box, his hands curled into fists.  
“No, it won’t,” his husky voice confirmed, allowing Clint and Bruce to breathe and step inside.  
  
 **Bruce:** _So, according to Loki, these are teleportation gateways used for interdimensional travel by space vagabonds because they are cheap to get and not really stable as we now know. *sighs* That’s…not our only problem right now._  
  
“Can’t-can’t you just teleport to wherever they went and bring them back?” Bruce threw the question in Loki’s direction, forcing a long exhale out of Clint.  
“I asked him already,” Clint interjected, “and for some BS reason he says he can’t.”  
“What?” Bruce turned to Loki, a shade of shock filling up his face, “Loki, why?”  
Silence.  
Clint raised his hands in the air in defeat before leaving over the nearest table to let Bruce handle the situation.  
“Is it something about you not able to teleport or-or-or does your ex live wherever they went whom you don’t want to meet again?”  
Loki still didn’t move.  
“Well, at least give me something, man. Where exactly did they teleport to?”  
The camera catches Loki’s muscles freeze for a second before his lungs took in all the breath they could.  
“Remember the command centre Sanctuary I told you about?”  
Clint turned to Bruce for a response, who took a moment to recall the name.  
“Yeah, I remember. Tony destroyed it during the battle of New York.”  
Loki turned towards the Avengers and simply blinked.  
“Not all of it.”  
Clint shifted his gaze between the scientist and the God, waiting for someone to tell him something while Bruce seemed to be going through a series of emotions.  
“Well?” He finally blurted out, wondering what exactly did the name of the place did to his intelligent friend.  
Bruce picked up his glasses and put them on before turning on the hologram screen.  
“Just tell us how to restart this thing. Clint and I will go through the portal and bring them back,” Bruce declared.  
  
 **Bruce:** _Hey! *offended look* I’d rather send myself through a black hole than make him suffer through the trauma again. I won’t wish such a thing on my worst enemies! *pauses* except for that dead purple grape and his deranged kids. They can suck it._  
  
 **Sanctuary**  
“Hi, kitty!”  
“Mewwrr!”  
The camera caught you sitting down in the dirt trying to talk to the cat that had appeared out of nowhere.  
The cat, on the other hand, readily strutted towards you and rubbed itself against your hands and legs, purring out quite loudly.  
“I am pretty sure you were not at the facility when I screwed things up, catto,” you voiced gently, scratching her head as her eyes closed to give in to the nice, soft rub before going down for the tag on her collar, “so, where did you come from?”  
A roar sounded around you, bringing everyone’s attention to the ground vibrating underneath, forcing Cassie and Javier to stand up while you picked up the curiously meowing cat in your arms.  
“What’s happening?” Cassie tried to shout over the roar.  
“I don’t know,” you shouted back, “come on let’s run for that higher ground.”  
The camera bounced as Javier ran behind Cassie, keeping her from falling down over the jagged trail while you covered the back.  
Just as they reached near the foot of the higher ground, the ground shattered behind you, forcing you to lose your balance, tumble and fall down.  
The camera caught a ginormous creature, quite similar to the leviathans that had attacked the earth at one point coming out of the ground with a screech.  
“Y/N!” Cassie screeched.  
“Just get out of here!” You screamed back before you faced the hollow eyes of the creature rising over you to seemingly devour you whole.  
With the cat secured in one arm, you tried to crawl on your back away from where Cassie and Javier ran.  
The creature now focused only on you, watching you squirm away from it before coming to pause for a split second.  
“Oh sh-” escaped your mouth as its jaw opened up to let out a screech and come straight for you.  
You closed your eyes and let go of the cat before pushing it away to allow to run as far away from you as possible, whispering to yourself, “I’m sorry, Scott.”  
The camera paused behind the higher hill to zoom in and record the creature coming down to devour you making Cassie scream in horror before pausing abruptly.  
Huge tentacles emanated out of somewhere near you, grabbing the confused leviathan- that tried to break free of its hold. The camera zoomed further to watch the tentacles forcing the gigantic creature into the source of their origin- the cat’s mouth.  
Within the next eleven seconds, the beast disappeared as the cat burped and puked out a few teeth before licking her paw and coming over to rub herself against a quite disturbed you who was not able to absorb what just happened.  
  
 **You** : _*still sitting in the spot you fell down* *looks down in confusion* *points at the cat* *raises brows* *quick exhale* h…how…*looks down at the cat licking your face and nuzzling in your neck* God?_  
  
Just as you said that a different outcry filled the air as a figure rose up from behind the hills- where the leviathan had first been spotted- and then another. Within a few seconds, at least a dozen of them covered the giant rocks.  
“Oh, shut up,” you groaned, getting up with the cat in your arms, done for the day.  
“Okay,” you huffed, looking at the ugly creatures slowly walking towards you, “I don’t know what kind of takoyaki you had, catto, but I’d really like if you could bring that tentacle beast again.”  
Silence.  
The car looked at you with dilated pupils, causing you to frown at the little creature.  
“Really?” You threw a flat tone at it, “What? Only like big meat?”  
“Mraorr!”  
“I care about me, darling. I care about those two, okay? So just puke out tentacled innards, fluff ball!”  
Nothing.  
The pace of the Chitauri grew fast as they reduced the distance between them and you, letting out a shrill cry of a feast.  
“Great,” you breathed, “just know that if I die here, it’s your fault.”  
“Mewrr?”  
Just as you let the words out, a blinding light ripped through space right in between you and Cassie, Javier’s hiding place, followed by a deafening roar that made the menacing aliens pause fright where they were.  
The camera watched you turn around and see the Hulk in his glorious form, screaming his lungs out at the awful aliens, who paused for exactly three seconds before running away whimpering with Their metaphorical tail in between their legs.  
“Uncle Bruce!” Cassie shouted, the camera panning in on her glad features before finding a stray Chitauri silently crawling its way towards her from behind.  
The alien barely took one step towards the little girl before an arrow ripped through its throat and stick right in the rock at the back, locking the creature right there till he stopped moving.  
Cassie was about to turn around to find out what was behind the gurgling noise before Clint got her attention back to the rip in the space met them halfway.  
“Are you guys okay?”  
“Yeah!” Cassie nodded and smiled through the dirt covering her face, making Clint crinkle his brows.  
“You are pretty well adjusted with such things for your age.”  
“Thanks,” she chimed, “you too,” forcing a chuckle out of him.  
“Cassie okay?” Hulk called out from where he stood.  
“I’m fine!”  
“Javier okay?”  
A thumbs up.  
“Y/N,” he turned around to look at you, “Y/N, o-”  
The sight of a blade by your throat in the hands of one who had chosen to stay back stopped everyone in their tracks.  
“Yeah,” you exhaled tiredly, “Y/N not that okay.”  
  
“No.”  
“I don’t care what you say.”  
“You should.”  
“What’re you going to do, kill me?”  
“Don’t you dare joke about your life hanging on the line like that.”  
The verbal spat between you and Clint was not going anywhere.  
“Clint, for God’s sake at least take them away instead of wasting your time here!” You shouted at the archer and the creature snarled in your ear while increasing the pressure on the blade a little over your skin.  
“We’re not leaving you here. Period,” he spat.  
“Fine,” you snarled at him before looking at the other Avenger, “hulk?”  
Hulk turned towards you at the call of his name.  
“What do you think? Would be sensible to put Cassie in danger?”  
He crinkled his nose and shook his head. “Y/N should be safe too.”  
“But you’ll put Scott’s daughter in danger for that?”  
At the mention of Scott, his expressions turned soft while Clint’s turned sharp.  
“Hey!” The archer cried in your direction.  
“Scott Hulk’s friend. Scott’s daughter, Hulk’s friend.”  
“Right?!” You ignored Clint at this point. “So you have to make sure you take her back home safely, Hulk. And try to talk sense into Clint too. He won’t take Cassie back to Scott.”  
Taking a step towards Cassie, he bent down and gave his hand to her, which she readily accepted and climbed his shoulders to sit there.  
“Cassie goes back to Scott,” he declared, looking right into Clint’s eyes.  
“We’re not leaving Y/N here!” Clint announced as loud as he could.  
“But Cassie!” Hulk pestered with the most innocent look in his eyes.  
“What about Y/N? She’s Tony’s-”  
“Oh my God! Hulk look!” You exclaimed, “Natasha’s back! She’d be worried about all of you. Especially her best friend.”  
Before Clint could even show his rage towards you, Hulk picked him and Javier up, dropping the latter’s camera on the ground, before running through the rip in space.  
  
Silence came back on the lone rock floating in space where you were still held, watching the blinding light from the rip decrease and flicker before eventually vanishing.  
The camera on the ground recorded the sigh that left you.  
“Cool,” you addressed the only other individual softly, “so…any plans for tonight?”  
A grunt escaped it as the blade moved away to gather the potential to come at you fast.  
A crack and a wince, followed by a thud were heard from behind you.  
“My plans mostly consist of not to be annoyed by dull humans like you,” a familiar soothing voice filled your ears.  
There was a second of relief over your face, “Loki,” escaping your lungs before creases of worry came up.  
“Loki?” You turned around to face the green eyes, “what are _you_ doing here?”  
The stained knife in his hand disappeared as he stepped over the dead Chitauri and moved closer to you  
“Take a wild guess,” he responded blankly, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
“But you,” you gulped taking a step back, “shouldn’t be here.”  
“Oh I didn’t want to,” he responded with quite the cool, taking another step towards you, “but I knew someone would be dense enough to do something stupid.”  
You opened your mouth to speak something but closed it, frustrated at the loss of any counter-argument.  
“There are so,” his voice grew husky with a tone of dark as he further reduced the distance, “many…things I want to do you, to teach you a lesson you dim-witted lass, that you would not be able to walk with a straight face for the next one week.”  
You raised your fingers to try to stop him right there. “That’s…you know that doesn’t sound like…that was…ahem…there was a cat here. I should probably look for it before it gets eaten by something.”  
You try to turn away to clear the shiver in your voice and walk away to look for the little feline but before you can take two steps, Loki’s arm wraps around your waist and picks you up like you weigh nothing to him.  
“Woah! No! Loki! Stop!”  
The redness of your cheeks was visibly recorded by the camera before Loki effortlessly took you and disappeared from space.  
  
 **The Facility**  
“I am sorry okay. Wait. You know what? I’m not sorry.”  
“Your ugly green ass left Y/N on that godforsaken place, Bruce!”  
“Stop it! It wasn’t my green ass, okay? Hulk has a mind of its own and you know that so stop it. And his green ass is not ugly!!”  
A swirl of green surrounded a corner of the lab before Loki stepped in with a fretting you in one arm hanging in the air crying.  
“Okay! I promise! Just don’t…please! Don’t do…that!”  
“Oh thank God!” Bruce exhaled as he and Clint walked towards you.  
“Thanking me won’t suffice,” Loki chided before putting you down to let Bruce and Clint hug you for reassurance.  
Cassie, still wrapped in your shawl, peeped in from the side of the door, her eyes going wide with joy as she saw you.  
“Y/N!” She ran towards you to give you the warmest hug possible.  
  
 **You** : _*teary eyes* I’m glad Cassie and Javi are safe, *breathes with a shiver* glad that I’m safe. *tilts head* not glad that we left that poor little cat there though. *turns her lips upside down* Not glad that Loki had to…um…re-visit that place. *huffs* Why do we rub each other the wrong way? *wonders with crinkled brows before sipping hot chocolate from the cup that says ‘Title of Your Sextape’*_  
*gulps*  
Just when things were going great and I was finally lightly shaking things up and having a good time. *shrugs and sips again*  
What?  
  
 **Later that Night**  
“Sorry about your camera, Javi,” you whisper as you close the door softly but not before the camera catches a glimpse of Cassie asleep in your bed.  
You are about to move towards the lounge when you stop and turn the other way to stop by the door next to you. Looking at the camera with a wave of ambiguity you took one long breath.  
“Okay, here goes nothing.”  
Tapping the door slightly with your knuckles you twisted the knob and entered the room that was softly lit.  
“Loki?” You whispered softly, taking careful steps as you entered the space, the camera keeping a considerable distance from you.  
The only place that was lit well enough was the corner by the glass wall illuminated by the study lamp on the desk housing numerous books on the shelves in front of it.  
An awe-filled breath escaped your lips as you walked closer to the corner and let your fingers touch the old bindings decorated with golden borders with the camera zooming in to focus on the skin carefully yet satisfyingly taking it all in.  
“Careful now, they were hard to find.”  
You jumped at Loki’s voice right behind you while the camera flinched and panned out to take in Loki’s figure standing quite close to you with his hands resting in his jeans.  
“I uh…I came to kno-ask…how you were doing,” you gulped down your words, trying to maintain eye contact with him.  
“I’m fine, as you can very well see,” he pointed out, never moving his smaragdines away from your Y/E/Cs.  
Swallowing whatever thought was running inside your mind, your fidgeting fingers let go of each other to allow your hands to go around his waist, embracing him in a hug slowly.  
Loki didn’t move.  
You didn’t seem to mind, allowing yourself to wrap him in your arms.  
“I hope you can talk it out with someone you’re comfortable with,” you whisper, lingering for a few seconds more before breaking away, wishing him goodnight and walking out.  
The camera stepped out with you but walked out of the lounge to step out on the balcony that connected the rooms to secretly watch Loki still standing there, his brows questioning something before turning to look in the direction you went and taking out his cellphone.  
“Are you free at this moment? It’s a six again.”  
  
 **Sanctuary**  
A furry nose boops the camera before going back and allowing it to record the wide eyes of the ginger cat.  
“Chewie!” A voice called out from a distance, making the cat turn towards the source, “I’ve been looking all over for you.”  
A blur of a blonde woman dressed in a red and blue suit stood out of focus.  
“Come on you little furball. We’ve got work to do,” she exclaimed before walking away.  
The cat turned back to the camera, opening its mouth to let out the huge tentacles, grabbing the camera and swallowing it whole.“


	7. Episode 7: What's Thunderin'

You were sprawled on the sofa in the lounge, reading something really interesting- according to your expressions- on your phone.  
The camera turned to the window to show Clint teaching Cassie to shoot arrows while another camera showed Bruce in his lab tinkering with statistics on the screen of the alien box that was now sealed inside a neutral environment in the vacuum container in one corner looking like some artefact on display in a lit container.  
Turning back to you, the camera caught a movement from the hallway to the dorms and slowly moved in that direction. In the darkness of the hallway, it caught Loki’s figure hiding in the shadow, gesturing the person behind the camera to stay quite as he pointed his pale finger towards you.  
The camera turned back to you still laying there, smiling at the screen before your entire body flinched and the phone landed smack into your face.  
“What the f-”

 **Loki:** _Yesterday while hanging out with the Spiderling, I found out Y/N and the crawler have been sending each other messages to and forth because the little one is preparing for his higher education and she has been helping him out. Now that’s none of my concern but what Peter did tell me was while she isn’t scared of spiders, she seems to have a mild fear of something else. *a smirk creeps over his face before become a wide-toothed grin*  
She hates the sound of thunder._  
  
 **Norway**  
The camera caught the tallest figure wearing a black jacket over a white Henley helping some people out with woods for building houses, lifting three logs at a time to move them to the construction site.  
The figure’s eyes finally fell on the camera to give it a huge wave and a wide grin.  
“Hey!” Thor called out as he removed his hood from over his head and walked towards the camera. “Came to meet the Asgardians? Come I’ll introduce you to some.”  
  
 **Thor:** _They are settling down quite wonderfully here. I mean, earth’s beautiful and all but *shrugs* it’s not Asgard *crinkles his nose as he smiles*  
Yeah… *smile slowly fades away*  
*scratches the back of his neck*  
I have a uh…weird itch in my back for some reason today. I wonder why?_  
  
(Back at The Facility)  
 **Loki:** _Now I was not going to wait for my brother or some Midgardian light show to have my fun so decided to do something about it._  
  
Footage shows Loki sneaking up on your figure last night asleep with your mouth open- drool all over the cushion beneath your head- in front of the still running TV.   
  
_I cast a simple spell on her yesterday that would make her hear the sound of thunder whenever she thinks about eating something, *smiles* which she does a lot._  
  
He gracefully gets down on his knees beside you to put his dominant hand on your head. Golden and green dust seems to fly all around his hand before seemingly settling over you.  
Just as he is about to get up and go, you grab his hand and place it in between the cushion and your cheek. “Aaah! Cold. This is nice,” you breathe out in a sleepy whisper as Loki sits there frozen- half horrified, half confused as what to do.  
  
 _*inhales* *arms crossed across his chest* *brows furrowed a little* yeah, it was not as easy as I thought it would be._  
  
Footage shows Loki struggling to remove his hand from under your face, making you hold on to it tighter, simultaneously grunting in your sleep.  
“No, Chichi,” you moan in your sleep, making the God pause, “that’s my blanket. Don’t take it away from me.”  
All he can do for the next few seconds is look into a camera complete blankness in his eyes.  
  
 _*Licks his lips*  
*whispers to himself* I should have teleported my way out of that one. *stares back with a hint of warning* Do not mention any of this to anyone or else…  
*icy gaze piercing through the camera*_  
  
 **The Lounge**  
You stared at the sky outside with slight bewilderment in your eyes as the camera shifted between you and a wickedly smirking Loki in the dark corridor of the dorms enjoying the show.  
“That’s weird,” you’re recorded whispering to yourself as you jump back down on the sofa, only to be rattled by something invisible, losing your balance and slipping down to the floor.  
“What the hell is happening?!” You nearly shout to yourself.  
“What are you doing on the floor?”  
You and the camera turned around to see a confused Bruce standing by the entry of the lounge.  
“My question exactly,” Loki exclaimed with an expression of worry, catching eyes with the camera for a sweeping second.  
“Didn’t you guys hear that?” You called out surprised, pointing towards nothing in particular.  
“Hear what?” Bruce questioned, looking in almost every direction, straining his ears. And eyes.  
You opened your mouth to say something before pausing and taking a doubtful glimpse at the camera.  
“Nothing,” you finally mentioned, gulping down the remnants of surprise, “I thought I heard…someone move their furniture.”  
  
 **You:** _What? I thought I heard thunder. *shrugs* Yeah I… am not that fond of thunder. Big deal. *scoffs*  
*presses lips* *whispers* Actually it is a big deal. I don’t like thunder that much. Please don’t tell Thor._  
  
 **Loki:** _‘not fond’?! That’s what she said? *chuckles*_  
  
Cassie entered the lounge skipping to stop by your side with Clint following right behind her with a soft smile on his face.  
“Y/N! Can you teach me a new snack or a new dish today?” She asked with pure excitement in her eyes, forcing you to mirror her excitement as you got up and took her to the kitchenette.  
“Ooohhhh! Yes!” You nearly howled, “what would like to eat?”  
“Chinese!”  
“Noice!” You giggled along with her, bending down to take out pots and pans from the drawers and placing them over the counter.  
“I want to have dumplings and rolls!”  
A flinch and a bad quick reflex were all it took to bang your head on the counter, letting out a painful groan.  
“Oh G-Are you okay?”   
Bruce and Clint were already moving to your side as you wobbled away from the counter raising one hand on the point of impact and another to make them stop midway.  
“I’m okay. ’m okay.”  
Loki turned eyed the camera with a sigh.  
  
 **Loki:** _What? Not my fault she cannot even walk straight.  
*a voice from outside the recording room*  
Title of your Sextape!  
The camera turns around to see a very enthusiastic Peter wave from outside the window before turning back to Loki._  
 **Loki:** _*sighs* Y/N made him watch that dumb show and now he just won’t stop._  
  
“Cassie just asked for dumplings and rolls,” Clint stated, quite confused as to why that would have made you jolt so hard.  
You closed your eyes to take one good inhale.  
“I know,” you nearly whispered, the pounding pain in your head reflecting in the restraint in your voice, “and I’m going to make the-”  
“PIZZA PARTAYYY!” Someone shouted from the direction of the lab making you grunt with a jerk.  
“Oh! My! God! Would you STOP!!”  
The camera watched the overtly enthusiastic Peter go mute at your sudden outburst, which you seemingly regretted the instant it left you.  
Before you could say anything to a visibly concerned Peter, the elevator door dinged and out came the team who had been away on the mission.  
Everyone sensed the silence of the room as Clint and Bruce gestured the crew to not speak anything.  
One second Scott was confused at the looks the duo was throwing at them and the next he watched the piled up boxes of pizza in Peter’s hands.  
“Pizza Party?!!!” Scott shrieked, you went 'son of a-’ to yourself this time,  and Bruce groaned.  
Cassie ran over to Scott to welcome him with open arms, cuddling with her father who was all over the place with the never-going-to-be-over-the-top display of love.  
  
 **Cassie** : _*shouts* Daddy’s back!!  
*Camera pans out to show Scott sitting by her side*  
_ **Scott:** _Yes, he’s back! Daddy went on an awesome mission and fought bad guys!  
_ **Cassie:** _I also completed my mission!  
_ **Scott:** _*gasps* You did?!  
_ **Cassie:** _*nods* mhmm. And we played hide and seek, charades, bought t-shirts that are a pun on Loki, got stuck on a planet, were rescued, and are going to eat Chinese today!  
_ **Scott:** _*blissfully* That’s awes- *expression changes to blank before confused* wait…what?  
_ **Cassie:** _*legs swinging* We also met a cat there._  
  
“Yay!” You let out a low cheer, “you guys are…back,” trying to semi-throw your fist in the air.   
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get…my…ears checked,” you mutter before quickly walking out of the room.  
Sam gave your disappearing figure a puzzled look. “What? Did we ruin her good time or something?”  
“By sending in a foreign object that threw her on some screwed up asteroid and possibly traumatised her?” Bruce articulated, “yeah, I think so.”  
  
 **Sam** : _Well, someone is full of sarcasm today. *cocks a brow*  
_ **Bruce:** _If stating the facts is sarcasm then come at me. *opens his arms casually*  
_ **Sam:** _*pouts and looks at the camera*  
_ **Bruce:** _*smiles* That’s what I thought._  
  
 **An Hour Later**  
Wanda was walking through the corridor of the dorms towards her room but stop short and took a couple of steps back to glance inside another room.  
The camera came forward to do the same and watched you wearing headphones and swinging back and forth on your bed, your knees bent and pushed right into your chest.  
Wanda called out your name but you seemed to be engrossed in some very deep thoughts as didn’t even move a muscle while staring at the grey wall in front of you.  
“Y/N,” she called out again, stepping closer to you.  
Not getting any response, she finally tapped your shoulder, inviting a shriek of curses out of you.  
“Son of a-oh my G-I’m so sorry, Wanda.”  
Wanda stood there wide-eyed, having already inches her upper body away a bit.  
“It’s okay. A-are you okay?”  
“Yes,” you say softly before taking a brief pause, “no. No, I’m not okay.”  
“Of course, you’re not okay, sweetie,” Wanda’s words came out rather soft “I see some sort of unusual buzz inside your head. Like a spell or something.”  
Your brows furrowed at her, your head tilted in confused surprise, your lips parted in a half-cooked question inside your head that never came out.  
And then something clicked.  
  
 **You:** _*tilts head to stress every word* That. Bloody. Gourd. *camera pans in*  
*whispers* I’m going to kill him. No, wait. Killing him would be the easy way.  
*Clicks tongue while thinking* I want to bother the lights out of him. *evil smirk*_  
  
 **The Corridor**  
“Promise? Okay! Cool! I’ll wait for you,” you whisper into your phone before disconnecting and walking out towards the lounge but not before throwing a knowing look at the camera.  
Loki, who sat on the sofa that you had recently been making your bed during late night binge-watching, watched you go up to the kitchenette to take out the essentials for something you were planning on making.  
“Not having pizza?”  
Scott called out from the table where everyone was gathering after a hot shower to dive into some much needed greasy food.  
“Save me some slices if you can. I’ll make Cassie some dumplings and rolls,” you answered, watching Loki’s shift a little towards you from the corner of your eye.  
“Oh! Oh! Can I have some?” Peter begged from somewhere in between the crowd gathered at the table.  
“Me too!”  
“Three.”  
“Fo-”  
“All right! I’ll make everyone some so stop counting you hungry little babies,” you declared as you increased the contents for the filling.  
Loki shared a look with the camera before getting up and walking towards the kitchen island, making the camera focus on the two faces from the crowd peering in your direction while nudging the other to do that same.  
“Give me five minutes Loki. They’re fast to make but not that fast,” you assure him as you ready the steaming pot and heat up the oil in the pan.  
“What do these… dumplings taste like?” Loki asked with a veil of genuine curiosity.  
You paused, your eyes getting a bit wider as if some latent fear resurfacing in those y/e/c pupils, looking at the God, giving him no room as you completely did a one-eighty of your facial expressions and whispered close to him, “thunder and lightning.”  
Before any of it could make sense, you closed your ears with your palms as a flash lit up the entirety of the facility followed by a reverberating crack of thunder.  
Loki’s shoulders did a nearly unnoticed flinch before he let out a groan.  
“Ah!” A familiar boomed as the elevator doors opened, “I see we are celebrating with pizza today! I reckon the mission went well. Hey Loki.”  
Thor walked towards you and took you in a huge embrace.  
“You’re looking beautiful as ever, Y/N!”  
“Why, thank you, Thor! You’re looking smashing yourself in that jacket! Oooh! Do you have a date tonight?”  
Another groan accompanied by an eye roll left Loki as you stopped yourself from snickering when he stood up and went back to the sofa.  
“I do, as matter of fact, have a date tonight,” he added, smelling the aroma as you opened the steaming pot. “Oh, this smells delicious.”  
“Of course it does,” came a sass-filled mutter from the sofa.  
  
 **Thor:** _I am going on a date tonight with Jane. We talked and have thought of giving one another one more chance at this. *smiles* I really love her. But I understand I cannot say that on our first date. *shrugs and blushes*  
So, *picks up something from the chair next to him* I brought her little gift for her. *opens up the velvet box to show an amber-coloured diamond the size of a Finch’s egg with the prettiest cut* I got a small gift, nothing… big. It was lying there in my inventory in the spaceship so I thought *grins* why not._  
 **  
Scott, Sam, Bruce & Loki:** _*giving a mixture of confusion and surprise to the camera, inhaling in deep thoughts*  
_ **Loki:** _*looking deadpan at the camera* This fool is going to get slapped on his first date.  
_ **Rest of them:** _*nod their heads in agreement*  
_ **Sam:** _*whispers* he dead._  
  
“Y/N! These are delicious! Where did you learn how to make these?”  
Scott spoke with his mouth full while Bucky gave a thumbs-up, making you swell with pride to have gotten the approval of the winter chef.  
“Oh! Everything was available in the pantry. The rolling sheets, the spices and whatnot. All I did was mix them and pack them and steam or fry them,” you shrug.  
  
 **You:** _*blushes and grins* yeah I know I’m pretty good at it. You’ll get good too if your brothers forget that you exist and eat up your share too. *nods* *smile wavers* yeah…that was…*sighs* sad. *Click tongue and tilts head* But not anymore. These guys saved me an entire pizza! *Shows them the box with the entire pack intact* *presses lips* *whispers* I’m so happy I think I might cry!_  
  
 **Natasha:** _*smirks* I hid a box for her. *Looks at the camera* I had to. These boys eat like starved gremlins. *shakes head in pity*_  
  
“You not having anything, Gourdy?”  
You plopped down on the sofa beside Loki with the pizza box and a plate of dumplings and rolls.  
“Stop calling me names, Y/N. You won’t like it when I’m angry,” he articulated, pausing as you presented him with food. He took a roll and bit into it.  
Thor’s voice excitedly thundered in the background, evidently rubbing his brother the wrong way, something which you could make out with keen observation.  
“Would you like to watch this new series with me?”  
“What? Not satisfied with me yet?” He grumbled flatly.  
“Title of your Sextape,” the entire table shouted from their corner, forcing the green-eyed God to look at the camera with features of blankness reflecting how done he was for the day.  
“Watch a few episodes,” you add, biting into the pizza, “and then I’ll introduce you to a psychological thriller series. I promise you’ll find it really interesting.”  
  
 **Loki:** _*keeps smiling into the camera* What? You thought annoying her into doing something so obvious as calling Thor over was not my plan all along? I accomplished what I was going for._  
*Puts the plate of dumplings over his thighs before turning back to the camera* What’s that you ask? Nothing much. Just distracting her from thinking about the terrible adventure she had on…the other place. *eats the dumpling* *talks with the same sophistication even with his mouth full* Brooklyn Nine-Nine is fine. But I have to say *smirks* Hannibal is quite the story.  
  
 **Later that Night**  
Everyone retired early due to pure exhaustion. Natasha closed the fridge after getting herself a bottle of water and switching off the lights in the kitchenette.  
“Looks like there’s a storm coming,” she mentioned in a raspy and tired voice as she looked out the glass walls before turning to the two people sitting in the lounge supposedly binge-watching their evening away.  
The camera panned in on you and Loki sprawled on the sofa as Hannibal played over the big screen in front of you. While Loki watched the Doctor use his skills on his new patient with quite the interest, you were softly snoring away to glory with your head half over the headrest.  
“Hey, Loki,” Natasha whispered to the God-while pointing at you- so as not to wake you up, “do you mind-”  
“She’s been sleeping here for the last three days. I’ll take her to her room in case she wakes up,” he stated softly.  
Natasha nodded in gratitude and went towards her room.  
A soft flash illuminated the lounge from behind them, making Loki turn his head a little to the back to see the source before thunder rumbled throughout the facility.  
The sturdy windows were not the only thing that rattled a bit.  
Loki felt your body jerk a little at the sound of raging dark clouds outside, forcing you to curl up into yourself. And as you did, your head landed on his shoulder.  
He looked at your furrowed brows ease up with every passing moment as peace came back over your features. And looked some more. Even when the roar came again and you tried to curl up further into his shoulder, his eyes did not waiver from the features he was studying.  
Finally, after a lingering moment, his other hand twisted to bring your headphones from your room right where he wanted them and carefully placed them on your ears. Connecting them to your phone,  the camera saw him find your playlists and picked up the most quaint ones.  
Before the storm knew it, Oh Wonder’s Body Gold filled up your ears. He felt your shoulders drop, your breath ease, your hands clutching the hem of his shirt let go. Never disturbing how you slept, he turned back his attention to the screen to watch a new murder to have taken place.  
The camera watching all of this from the corridor panned out to reveal a curious Scott, Peter and Cassie peaking from behind the wall, surprised, impressed, shocked, elated all at the same time.  
“Cassie, whatever you did,” Peter whispered while on his knees, never looking away from the scene, “you need to give some pointers.”  
“Okay,” Cassie whispered, “but I charge by the hour.”  
Peter and Scott turned away to look at the little one grinning at the both of them with a smug face before skipping back to your room.


	8. Episode 8: Blew Me

“I don’t think so.”  
“I bet you twenty dollars.”  
“Nu-uh.”  
“Dude!”  
“I’m telling you she’ll do it!”  
“I’m telling you she won’t.”  
“Hey! She’s in college. She’ll do it for less, trust me.”  
“Peter.”  
“Clint-ster Barton. Sorry, I was going to say Mister Barton but I had already said Clint and it kinda got mixed.”

 **Peter:** _*smiling* it’s Friday! I’m over at the facility to spend some time with everyone before I start with college. I was *shrugs* worried I might not get to spend more time with these guys once college starts so I thought I’d just hang out here. I wish Mr Stark was here too though.  
*someone outside the screen clears throat*  
Oh! Oh! And I brought Ned with me.  
*camera pans out to show Ned with a goofy smile*  
_ **Ned:** _*waves* Hey. I’m Ned. Ned Leeds. Peter’s guy in the chair. His right hand. The one and only. *finger guns*  
_ **Peter:** _*nods giddily*  
_ **Ned:** _We built the Death Star together.  
_ **Peter:** _It’s awesome.  
_ **Ned:** _And hacked into Mr Stark’s sys-  
_ **Peter:** _*thwaps his hand lightly over Ned’s mouth all the while giving a plastered smile to the camera* ookay! Alrighty then.  
*another voice comes from outside the frame*  
I want front row seats when Stark runs the changes you did to the system.  
*camera pans out further to reveal Clint drinking coffee from a mug titled ‘Ya Basic!’*  
_ **Peter:** _*turning back to the camera* and we have a bet running that Y/N can do anything for twenty-one bucks because, newsflash, she’s in college.  
_ **Clint:** _*shakes his head* mm-mm *gulps his coffee* Nah! She’s too mature for these kinds of things.  
_ **Peter:** _*scoffs* you really don’t know her Mr Barton.  
_ **Ned:** _*giggling to himself* *mutters* Clint-ster Barton.  
_ **Clint:** _*cocks a brow at Ned*  
_ **Ned:** _*catches one glimpse of that death-stare and shuts down for good*_  
  
You walked into the room and caught the attention of the trio deep into the argument about you. Their eyes lit up as they finally realised they could test their theory for real.  
The camera showed Natasha, Scott, Bucky, Bruce, Steve and Loki sitting on the table on the end of the lounge nearer to the corridor of the dorms you came out from- the first two browsing something over the internet while the rest played a game of Bingo.  
“Hey, Y/N!” Peter shouted from where he sat, almost jumping on the sofa, “Would you kiss Loki for twenty-one bucks?”  
Everyone else raised their heads at the statement that was hard to miss and still no one believed what they heard.  
“Wait,” Clint sat up, suddenly questioning the unspoken rules of this game, “wha-no-”  
Without missing a beat, you shrugged your shoulders, “Sure!”  
Steve, Bucky, Bruce and Natasha looked at Loki for some reaction while Scott tried to sit as still as possible and failed.  
“Hey Loki,” you turned towards the God, “is it okay if I kiss you for twenty bucks?”  
Loki did not even look up from his sheet.  
“Knock yourself out, little one,” his voice- uninterested but gliding on all surfaces like the soft sun rays in the clear ocean- gave you his consent.  
  
 **Bucky:** _Clint’s an idiot. *looks at the camera* he would have done the same for less green and complained the whole time about it._  
  
Every single person- except Natasha, whose eyes did the work- shifted as they watched you strut towards Loki- who was still busy with the special Bingo in front of him- with the most casual look over your face.  
  
 **Scott:** _*breathless* Oh my God! *Slightly but in a haste slaps Peter’s chest* *shrieks* Oh my God!_  
 **Peter:** _*mouth agape with pure exhilaration* I KNOW!!! *guffaws* Iiieeeehhh knoowwwhhhh_  
  
 **Bruce:** _*raises brow* *lips parted in mild shock* Is *brows furrowed* is this really happening?_  
  
You reached the crowd at the table, your eyes only on Loki as you swivelled around a concerned Steve and curious Bucky to reach the God and stopped right between him and Scott- who was evidently holding in a breath as he was trying to decide what to do with his hands.  
“Now hold on a second,” Clint announced as he stood, his hands asking you to pause where you were, his brows doing a seriously concerned curve, “you don’t have to do that.”  
You scoffed. “I’m a college student Clint. I’ve got money problems. I would have kissed him for five bucks.”  
  
 **Clint:** _She meant she would’ve killed him for five bucks. *Death stare*_  
 **Natasha** : _*quietly sitting next to him* *shakes her head with a ’i-don’t-think-so’ pout for the camera*_  
  
“I’ll give you ten bucks to not kiss him,” Clint declared.  
“Aren’t you supposed to up the money?” Bucky questioned in the archer’s direction while you and everyone else nodded in confirmation.  
“Oh come on!” Clint scrunched his nose, “that’s now how it g-”  
You were already bending down towards Loki when a hollow shriek left Barton’s lungs.  
“Okay! Thirty bucks!”  
“To kiss Loki?” Scott added with culpable levels of stressed innocence while sharing the same look with the frame.  
“What? No! No!! To not kiss him.”  
“I’m not letting you borrow from me this time,” Natasha was quick to add, tilting her chair back a bit while swinging her hand over its back.  
“Of course you are, Nat,” he added flatly as if it needed saying.  
Natasha turned her head towards you.  
“I’ll give you fifty bucks to kiss Loki.”  
  
 **Natasha:** _*arms crossed over her chest* No, I don’t want her to kiss Loki. *shrugs swimmingly* but today I’d rather watch Clint squirm *signature smirk*_  
  
“I’ll add my ten bucks to that,” Scott mentioned in the flow.  
Clint, appalled as he was, tried to control his disbelief. “I’ll give you seventy to kiss…Bucky,” Clint blurted out before turning to Natasha, “and you! No more choco-chip ice-cream hangouts with me!”  
“Heck, I’ll give you ninety to kiss Steve,” Bucky added with a smile, “and watch him be coloured in rainbows.”  
Clint simmered down a bit all the while calculating with his eyes the distance reducing between you and Loki, which neither of you was aware of.  
“Nah,” Natasha chimed with a slight shake of her head, “ninety-five bucks and you kiss Loki.”  
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!”  
  
 **You:** _*smile* *bring up a wad of cash in the frame to fan yourself with every single flapping of the paper in there* one hundred and ten dollas baby!_  
 **Clint:** _*sighing defeatedly beside you*_  
  
 **Peter & Scott:** _*cursing harmless curses while being pissed* that stupid archer!  
Idiot bread!  
We finally could have had it!  
That dark cinnamon role just had to take out cash and ruin it.  
*silence brooding*  
_ **Peter:** _I’m gonna go ahead and show Ned rest of this place. *leaves the room with a sigh*  
_ **Scott:** _*tilts his head* To be honest I would’ve kissed Loki for five bucks. I mean…have you seen him? Right babe?  
*shows his phone on speaker with ID spelling out My Queen*  
_ **Hope:** _Of course you would have, hon!  
_ **Scott:** _*grinning* Don’t tell me you’re jealous.  
_ **Hope:** _Unsurprisingly, I’m not.  
_ **Scott:** _Not even a little bit?  
_ **Hope:** _Nah. You aren’t Loki’s type.  
_ **Scott:** _*smile slowly dissipates* *lips press each other* *clears throat* *speaks softly* but you said I have a nice butt.  
_ **Hope:** _Without a doubt, babe. But that butt belongs to me.  
_ **Scott:** _*blushes uncontrollably* Stahhp *whispers* there are cameras here._  
  
 **Later in The Lounge**  
Zuko sat over Ned’s stomach, his tail swinging in pure pleasure as he and Peter scratched the little pupper’s ears and oooh-ed, aahh-ed and awww-ed whenever he did something adorable.  
“Six-thirty,” Scott’s voice boomed through the space.  
You turned up from your glass of iced tea to have it slid away from your hands by Loki’s nimble movements and take one good gulp from it.  
“What about six-thirty?” You asked, your hand trying to grab onto air forcing Loki to press his lips down on his chuckle before sliding the glass back into your hold.  
“We’re going clubbing,” Natasha added with a decent smirk favouring her lips, looking around the room before her eyes met someone to be stopped on an abrupt note.  
“Except the two of you.”  
Ned, Peter and Zuko looked up towards the Black Widow before giving her a shrug.  
“As long as we have Zuko, we’ll be fine,” Ned reassured, giving the little one a gentle pat on his back, only to be showered with lovable licks on his face.  
The camera showed you looking down at the half-empty glass before giving Loki a suspicious glare.  
“Please don’t try to touch anything in my lab,” Bruce pleaded as turned away from you to look at the young science nerds lying on the floor.  
You picked up a handful of chips from Loki’s bowl. That did not surprise the God, but it surely made him somewhat uncomfortable when you chomped down on the chips without breaking your eye-contact with the trickster, going for a second helping.  
“I have initiated the baby-proof protocol, Dr Banner,” Friday chimed out of nowhere, “Master Parker and Master Leeds will be safe under my scrutiny.”  
Loki’s brows slowly furrowed as he watched your hand go for a third helping while your eyes looked like they did not care for this entire dimension.  
Finally, he thwacked your hand away and pulled the bowl away from your reach.  
“Thank you, Friday,” Natasha announced before looking at you and tilting her head towards the dorms.  
“Wha?” You asked, oblivious to the signals she was sending you, your mouth full.  
“Let’s go get ready.”  
You stopped your munching to look at the Lilo & Stitch wall clock.  
“Iss ’nly fou-thirthee,” you tried to say.  
Natasha sighed. So did Scott.  
“She means we have to get you ready,” he concluded before waving you to come over. “Gotta show all those guys, gals and non-binary pals what they’re missing on!”  
“A lout with the appetite of a horse,” Loki added without so much as a blink of an eye towards the camera.  
“Ee leet weet dee ipitee eef ee hees,” you childishly mocked the God before walking away with the Black Widow.  
Slowly everyone trickled away.  
Everyone except Ned and Peter.  
“W-hold on,” Ned’s voice shot up, “didn’t we come here so you could spend more time with them?”  
Peter’s stare lingered before his lips stretched into one fluffy malicious grin, making Ned gasp.  
“We’re gonna go undercover at the club?!”  
“Oh ye-wait what? No! Ned! Remember the thing we were talking about this morning?”  
Ned looked into his personal oblivion before jolting back to his reality.  
“Oh…OH!”  
  
 **Outside the club**  
 **You:** _I’ve heard a lot about Mr Stark’s lavish parties. But I have never heard about you guys hanging out at clubs. *looks at Clint*  
_ **Clint:** _*exhales* we don’t do it often. And when we do we have to be discreet about i-  
*wild screeches of women from behind the two of you*  
*camera pans out to focus on the girls bursting their lungs, eyes and whatnots on catching a glimpse of Bucky and Steve* *'use your metal on me Sargeant!’ one screams* *'Leave your shield and try grabbing me tonight, Captain!’ other says making both buddies turn red and scurry inside*  
_ **You:** _*turn back towards the camera* *press lips* yeah…sorry about that. Some ladies really don’t…oh heck.  
*another wail comes from the same group*  
_ **Clint:** _*still watching that crowd* looks like Sam, Wanda and Pietro arrived.  
_ **You:** _*inhale while staring right into the screen* let’s just go inside._  
  
You turned towards the car and looked for someone at the back in the shadows.  
“You coming?”  
“Do I really have to?” Loki muttered flatly, appearing out of the darkness. “Humans stepping on each other’s toes, dancing like vulgar beasts and downing Midgardian mead even when their stomachs cannot handle it. It’s like they’re wishing for death to come get them early.”  
“Hey!” You gently punched his chest, making him question your action with his eyes, “we’re here for a good time. Not a long time, buddy. Come on.”  
You wrapped your arm in his and gently pushed him forward with you.  
“Not to mention the unnecessary groping in the dark.”  
This time you remained silent for a few moments, making Loki’s features wonder the obvious.  
“We’ll stay with our group,” you finally cleared your throat, not looking him in the eye this time, “we know that’s the good corner.”  
  
 **You:** _What? I’ve…never been to a club before. What’s hard to grasp about that? *blinks* *licks lips* how dark is it in there? Because suddenly I really miss my bed. *stretches the end of her lips*_  
  
The music was loud but the jockey played groovy singles- an upgrade from the painful EDMs now-a-days. Even in the barely lit environment your movements- and even your entire existence- seemed to catch all the eyes staring at you and Loki moving past the crowd to get to the VIP section where your friends sat.  
One camera walked in front of you- receiving curses and slight shoves that it really didn’t seem to care about- while the other walked behind, lingering in the wide space Loki created just with his presence.  
What the device really focused on was the faces near you in the crowd.  
Men stared at you once, then come back again, their eyes taking you in from head to toe, the knee-length duochrome dress that you wore- turning from black to the deepest maroon there was at the right angle of light striking over it- Natasha’s choice- catching eyes before those riled up eyes came to a stop on your face.  
Those eyes waited for you to come close as you made your way towards the familiar faces. And just when they thought you were within range to be, maybe, pulled over to their side, their whole stature took a one-eighty on seeing the towering figure close behind you, menacing green eyes looking down at them like they would devour them whole. And not in a kinky way.  
  
 **Loki:** _*tired* Such hypocrites! When Y/N walks by, they look at her as if they’re going to buy her the entire place tonight. But when I do, they turn away like the unintelligent cowards they are. *rolls eyes* No wonder they made pool noodles when they should’ve been studying the gravitational waves and black holes._  
 **Sam:** _*walking by with a beer in his hand* *stops and states at Loki* what does that have *anything* to do with Y/N._  
 **Loki:** _*without missing a beat* the need to focus on the better things, red bird._  
  
One man, who was clearly only focused on you, took a step closer as you walked past him, his hand rising up only till below your waist, going forth to grab what he was aiming for before another hand grasped his arm with an iron grip, forcing him to turn around with rage-filled eyes to run smack into Loki’s disinterested but cold gaze.  
  
 **Loki:** _What…I wanted to see if I could hear the bones crunch in this music. *satisfied signature smirk*_  
  
Both of you reached the section and your hand dragging the God by his arm did not go unnoticed by Clint and Pietro. Natasha and Bruce did notice it as well but their expressions did not give away much.  
Scott welcomed both of you with a bottle of beer each.  
“Starting with something light!” He exclaimed before directing you both to take seats in the near corner of the couch right next to Pietro.  
Sam got up and told him to scooch over.  
  
 **Sam:** _He has a broken heart in his chest and alcohol in his hand. *narrows eyes* do you really think it’s anywhere near all right to make his disinterested crush sit next to him?_  
  
 **You:** _What? *Confused* What about Pie-oh! *look of concern* oh. *Turns to see him on his third beer, laughing and spinning the bottle for a game of truth-or-dare* *turns back* *scratches the back of her head* *worried* oh._  
  
You downed your first beer after a toast to a good mission, a wacked space-travel and to the end of a long sick break before you went back to college the day after.  
“Easy, girl,” Natasha cocked a brow in your direction, “we have the whole night, you know.”  
You picked up another bottle from the ice bucket.  
“Oh, I know,” you smirked back before chugging this one as well and finally turning towards a very concerned yet very impressed Steve and Bucky, “you guys are responsible for getting me home. Is that okay?”  
“Yeah,” came a pat reply.  
“Absolutely.”  
“Now, hold on a minute,” Scott interrupted, “first of all. Why them? Second of all- they need to enjoy too. Let them let their hair down tonight. Third of all- Loki is an Asgardian. He’s never gonna get drunk. He’s the one who’ll be taking all of us home.”  
You gave Scott a flat look. “Dude, he’s gonna be surrounded with girls like a swarm of flies in less than five minutes.”  
Almost every man sitting there felt their ego scratched while Loki sat back, enjoying the conversation, all the while teasing the women looking at him from the dance floor with his smug look and partly disinterested gaze followed by an occasional smirk.  
“Whoa, what do you mean Loki’s the _only_ one who can get the girls?” Natasha mocked a gasp, making Sam, Steve and Bucky give the look of disapproval, which she clearly was enjoying.  
“Hey, Y/N,” Pietro leaned across Sam, “can I ta-”  
“Dance!” You declared as you got up, taking Natasha and Steve by your hands to force them to the floor.  
The drums from Safari and J Balvin’s voice boomed throughout the space. You reached the dance floor and forgot you had actually brought company.  
The camera focused on your movements- pure sensuality caught in your hips moving in sync with the beats, your head tilting suggestively to no one in particular. Your shoulders did a smooth twist, your chest heaved and went down with the grace of a swan. For you, it was just you on the dance floor. No one else.  
And when you did feel another presence, you didn’t shy away from a little play.  
First, it was Steve. Your back collided with his chest, forcing you to turn around and beam at him. Taking his hands you brought one to your back while the other was kept up let it get a gentle grip on yours. And just as the music switched to Lykki Li’s Late Night Feelings, you moved your legs fluidly, gesturing the Captain to do the same. Even in the darkness, you could watch him blush and then blush harder as Natasha came by on her toes, swinging her hips, enjoying every rhythm.  
Changing tactic, you twisted your head and hands to the side, which he gladly followed. And soon, without much help, he was twirling you around, and moving like nothing you’d ever seen before.  
Even Natasha was taken aback for one-tenth of a second before she joined in the fun.  
The beat changed, so did your dancing style. Like a fluff-fledged dork, you let your hands hang by your sides while you shook your upper body around, making Steve laugh his lungs out right there. Scott brought-more like forced- the rest to join in the fun.  
Now you all had nearly half the floor to your group.  
Scott took the centre stage, moving his hips like a pro. That’s when everyone discovered his art of doing a perfect twerk.  
Sam wasn’t behind, matching the Billie Eilish beats with his flawless clap-and-twist with a straight face against Scott.  
Clint was reluctant to break like everyone else. But once he started, no one had the room in their mouth to contain the gasp that built up inside the lungs as he popped and locked and did a split in the middle of the dance floor.  
Bucky took some work. And you worked with him. Doing slow moves, snapping the fingers, moving the shoulders up and down. No one pushed him further because everyone could see the perfect smile over his red face and knew he was enjoying it more than he cared to admit.  
Wanda moves with the grace of a ballerina, courtesy Natasha, getting flooded with applause while Pietro did a break down before adding some flavour of freestyle.  
Bruce took the liberty of dancing with Natasha and no one had a problem with it. In fact, everyone enjoyed this new level of visible intimacy between the couple.  
What no one had expected was a stranger approaching you and no one doing much about it but stare with questioning silence.  
Because the woman who came to dance so close to you had now had her arms wrapped around your neck while you were finger-gunning in any direction, mostly making some of your friends go through second-hand embarrassment at the scene unfolding in front them.  
Giving the lady a twist and a bend, you twirled yourself and howled applause.  
  
 **You:** _That *breathless and beaming* was a helluva showdown!! *jumping* Woaaaaaaa~!!!_  
  
 **Scott, Steve, Bucky, Bruce and Nat:** _*drink their beer in some deep thought*_  
 **Steve:** _*still in thought looking somewhere far away* I don’t think she knows what just happened._  
 **Rest of them:** _*shake their head* Nope._

 **Other side of The Club**  
One of the cameras had been sitting with Loki while the rest of you were breaking a leg, catching the suggestive signals a woman in a sheer black dress had been sending his way.  
Bored as he seemed, he got up, pressed away the crinkles off the front of his black shirt and walked towards the bar.  
Ordering the strongest thing they had, he mentally counted to ten and felt the heated brush of an arm that had the immaculate tone of snow impeccably captured in her skin.  
Sending an evocative smile his way, she ordered a glass of whiskey for herself and brushed away her blonde hair to expose her bare shoulders with distinct collarbones waiting to cut through something. Soon.  
“You seem familiar,” her deep, sultry voice was the music of its own accord to any ear that heard her.  
“Do I?” Loki wondered out loud as he took a swig his drink. A gulp later he looked at the glass with a hint of approval.  
“Not many faces match the man who brought the battle of New York,” she responded, making the God pause nursing his glass for barely a tenth of a second. “Not many faces match the man who then went on to save,” she moaned, as her finger traced Loki’s bare skin up to his arm till the rolled up sleeves,  "the universe.“  
Loki’s eyes followed the movement of those nails painted red.  
"Oh, but, you naïve little thing,” he sang low, the smile on his lips growing a bit, “I am no man.”  
The red lips smiled before perfect white teeth bit down on them. “Exactly,” she whispered close to him.  
 **  
Outside The Club**  
The backdoor opened and shut with a bang as Loki pushed woman onto the wall next to it, his hands resting on her hips, his fingers digging into the fabric while his lips tracing the red ones with controlled hunger. Coveted moans left the woman as the kiss deepened with every second.  
Just as he was ready to run his tongue down her throat, the metal door opened and someone walked out sniffling.  
Somewhere in the distance, away from the muffled club music, _Galdive’s Blew Me_ played into the cold air, the breeze letting Loki take in the familiar scent that walked past him.  
He closed his eyes, and breathed, drawing away from the woman, who didn’t seem to get the action the first time.  
Moving his hands from her hips to her shoulders, he gently pushed her back away from himself fully before turning to look in the direction the figure walked down.  
“What?” The woman asked the God.  
“I have to go,” he simply put and started walking in the direction he was looking in.  
“W-excuse me!”  
“Excused,” he acknowledged without so much as looking back.  
  
A few yards away, a bit far from the dim yellow streetlights, he saw the figure with that familiar scent sitting on a swing.  
He slowed his pace, the camera right behind him, not wanting to disturb whatever solitude was needed in that moment. Finally coming to a halt, he stood by a tree, keeping a silent watch before Clint’s voice called out your name.  
“Y/N, come on! Let’s get us home!”  
You turned in the swing before wiping away the tears and getting up to go towards the group trickling out of the club, moving towards the parking lot a few feet away.  
Loki loomed in the dark parallel to you before stepping out into the street right behind you.  
“Here,” Scott handed you a bottle of beer, making you gasp and giggle, perfectly hiding the once teary corners of your eyes.  
“You remembered!”  
Taking one good gulp, you walked down the street with the rest of them.  
“Sup!” You greeted Loki with a slight nod, slowing your pace a bit to walk by his side.  
“All right. In you g-wait.”  
Clint’s voice cracked at the end as everyone present there stared at the empty parking space.  
“Where’s my car?”  
You and Scott stepped forward, looking around the other cars before you bent down to look under them. “Not here,” you declared, getting up, getting a burst of giggles from Sam and Steve, a defeated head-shake from Bucky and a gentle roll of his eyes from Loki.  
“Wait,” Wanda interjected a very worried Clint’s thoughts, “someone is missing.”  
Everyone looked at everyone else to figure out the who before calling out in unison.  
“Nat and Bruce.”  
  
Clint got busy on the phone to call Natasha while Steve tried Bruce. Bucky and Sam started a soft argument on who 'the girl in blue’ inside the club was hitting on, taking out variables that went over your head. Wanda and Pietro stood in the other corner fighting over who could make a better snowman.  
Disinterested as you were, you walked just a few steps away from the crowded space to let out a low whisper of a shriek.  
“Doggggiiieeeeee!!!”  
You sat down on a cement bench and pet the street dog, who was happy to get the attention from you.  
“Hi baby!” You stretched your cooing whispers, scratching his ear. “Whooooosa gooood boy! Whooooosa goooood boy! You! You are!”  
The same track from a few minutes ago plays again as you turn up your gaze to watch the figure leaning on the wall.  
“Loki! Come! Pet him!”  
Loki didn’t move.  
“Come on! Please?”  
He did not budge but for the smile that was slowly vanishing from your face.  
He came and sat next to you, never once touching the dog but still making you happy with his company.  
“Awhawhaw!” You suddenly let out a soft burst, “I get it. You like cats!”  
Even for the God, this out of the blue observation was a confused surprise with no origins whatsoever.  
You sat up, moving your hands away from the dog to use them for explanation.  
“It’s really easy to guess. You respect your space. A lot. You like to be left to your own devices. You don’t like people barging into that bubble of yours. And those who don’t, get some- if not all- respect from you. Because, hey! I love it when people leave me be. It’s bliss!” You bring up your shoulders and close your eyes to show him what you mean. “And it’s only when the other person respects that about you, do you come up to them and sit and do whatever you want. So, pretty much like a cat. Though I’m not sure about the part when the cats demand full attention. Kinda still tryna figure tha'one out.”  
The smile on Loki’s lips as his eyes latch onto yours means you said something good. Not correct, just good.  
“ Well,” he nodded once, “that is quite an observation…”  
“Thanks,” you beamed.  
“…my little kitten.”  
Now the confusion in your brows made his smile a bit wider, almost at the edge of revealing his perfect whites.  
You processed what he meant by that, and he was patient enough to give you some time.  
“So, you prefer hanging out with me because I am like a kitten to you? Naw, Loks, baby, I’m a full-fledged dog.”  
“Oh, but are you?”  
You looked at him with questioning eyes.  
  
 **You:** _Do I like my space? Yes. Do I prefer quite surroundings than noisy blasphemy of a music? Yup. Do I want attention sometimes? Heck yeah. Do I metaphorically jump at a person for said attention? …Nope. Am I choose with what I eat? *shrugs* sometimes yes. Do love treats? Who doesn’t? Do love a good scratch on my head. Hehe. *serious face* Yes. Do I shred pillows in rage? *exhales* Um…no. I just burn them. *stands in silence* *clicks tongue* *walks away*_  
  
Both of you sat and watched some cars go by. The dog you were petting, stood on his toes before dashing towards a cat he saw, barking at the little beast.  
Your legs moved to the beats of Maria Maria playing somewhere in the neighbourhood while your company sat still beside you, observing everything the scene had to offer, his arms forward, resting on his thighs.  
“I’m scared of going back,” your voice muttered with cracks out of nowhere, “to college.”  
Loki’d head slowly swerved in your direction.  
“Every time I walk into the campus, all I can think of is what if I’m not good enough this time as well?”  
The green eyes looked into some far off oblivion, never interrupting your low morbid whispers.  
“What if I don’t work hard enough. What if I cannot work hard enough this time? What if I fail because I didn’t try because sometimes I do feel I am not giving it my all. Not to mention the time and money and resources of Mister Stark that I am wasting. What if one day I cannot take it anymore and I just drop everything? Give up on every single thing I worked so hard on because some part of me is just not ready. It’s… just…not.”  
A car somewhere far away clicked before cold silence came back.  
The dog was nowhere to be seen now. A couple came from the direction of the club, their hands brushing each other before the redheaded boy took the initiative to take his guy’s hand and twirl him to the wall and place a gentle kiss on his lips, clearly leaving him shuddering with euphoria.  
“And what if you’re not ready?”  
Loki’s voice woke you up from a heavy slumber.  
“What?”  
“You are not ready. You fail. So? Start anew.”  
Your head went back a bit, as your face scrunched up and looked at him with a layer of shock.  
“Wh-”  
“Is it the end of the world?”  
His words slowed you down.  
“If you stop doing whatever you are doing to rest…will it kill this world?”  
A painful scoff left your lungs. “God, I hope not.”  
Galdive’s track came back on a radio somewhere.  
“Then, what’s stopping you from taking things at your pace?”  
You blinked. “Nothing, really. Just this f****d up economy, bills to pay, house to build, personal health to take care of.”  
“And what’s the worst that could happen?”  
You looked down at the pavement under your feet before looking up at the sky.  
The words seeped inside you drop by drop, taking their time.  
You finally turned your resting head towards him, a single tear gliding down with gravity.  
“Like you said, you are here for a good time.”  
Your smile was soft. So was his.  
“You,” you started, “are such a cat.”  
Loki’s brow shot up. “More of a tiger, maybe.”  
“Nah. You are one of those fluffy Norwegian cats.”  
“Or a lion.”  
“The cutest furballs but the fiercest dumbasses.”  
“Maybe a dragon?”  
“Hey guys! The car’s back!”  
Both of you get up and move in Scott’s direction.  
“How will we all fit in that SUV?”  
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Scott waved away the question with his hands, “Sam and Bucky lost in rock paper scissors so they’ll be taking a cab.”  
 **  
The Cab**  
“Both of you better sit your asses down like civilised men before I throw out of my goddamn car.”  
The camera swerves from the hissing driver to the two men paused in the middle of throwing hands at each other- one already at the other’s throat- before going back to sitting in silence, brooding all the way home out their respective windows.  
  
 **The Facility**  
“Did you get it?”  
Ned focused his phone to where Peter stood and clicked the picture.  
“Got it!” He exclaimed, “hohoho! Dude! This is so awesome!”  
Peter came over to look at the picture of him in the Black Widow suit, pulling off a superhero landing.  
“Ned, this is freaking amazing!”  
“Okay! Okay!” Ned stated, barely able to control his excitement.  
“Now do Bucky!”


	9. Episode 9: Sway

"Hello?"

Loki's voice echoed through the empty lounge as he stepped in with his already piping hot cup of tea, sipping it while turning towards the camera.

**Loki** :  _ For some days there has been quite a stir here at the facility _

The screen shows the camera at an angle outside Natasha's window where it can see her switching off her alarm and leaving a peck on whosoever was sleeping beside her in her bed- which turns out to be Bruce when he turns this way- and leaving the room. The camera shifts to the next window to zoom in on a visibly out Scott half-hanging over the bed, drooling with his mouth open. His quilt lies halfway under him and halfway down with Zuko's teether and dog toys but the pupper not in site.

The door on the end of the wall opens to show Natasha walking in, taking in the scene, calling out Scott's name thrice- all in vain- before ultimately pulling the quilt from under him and throwing him down on the floor, waking him up within seconds.

_ I know. Looks quite the opposite in the Lounge, doesn't it? _

Scott scratches his boxers over his butt before walking out half asleep, the camera shifts to the windows of rooms on the other side, focusing on a sleepy you drooling- as usual- on your pillow, one of your legs half out from under the quilt while Zuko climbs up the little pillow kept for him to jump over to your side and lick your face whole.

 

_ Ahh, the serene quiet. _

Scott walks into your room yawning, settling on the other side of the bed to caress your head gently to wake you up. His caressing slowly changes to soft pats as he himself dozes off beside you before Steve shouts out his name, getting a happy tail-wag from Zuko while waking you as well.

"We are fifteen minutes late already. Get up and smell the morning! Both of you!"

_ The quiet is because every other member has been busy, you see. In what, you ask? _

All the people awake line up in the training room which Peter is entering out of breath, apologising for being late, throwing his bag and jacket in a corner before standing beside you and giving you a fist bump.

Wanda joins Scott while Natasha takes position next to Steve.

Sam and Bucky stand opposite all of you in their tracksuits like armours in training, their chests out, their hands resting at the back, waiting for everyone to settle in.

"All right everyone," Sam calls out, "positions!"

You stand in front of Peter, Scott in front of Wanda and Natasha does the same with Steve.

"Trustfall!"

_ They're preparing for the return of Stark in the most hilariously outrageous way possible. _

 

**Sam** :  _ *standing in the training room with the most straight face for the camera* they're dancing. *blinks* I feel bad for the people who'll be watching them. _

_ *camera pans over his shoulder to Scott and Wands trying to do a twirl with the former ending it with jazz hands* _

_ *pans back to Sam and Bucky* _

**Sam** :  _ I feel bad for the people who'll be watching them _

**Bucky:** _*blinks* *scrunches his brows as he thinks for a second before turning towards Sam* *whispers* we're the people who'll be watching them._

**Sam** : *closes his eyes* why did you have to say it out loud?

 

Loki entered the training room with a sly smile for the camera before perching himself over the platform where Clint sat.

"Not joining in the fun?" he quips.

"I don't have an inflatable ego," Clint throws back at him, making Loki tip his cup in respect.

 

**Loki** : _ Rhodes called them up a couple of days ago to tell them about his return. There was some talk about throwing a party for the family and dancing. And something about Stark thinking the Avengers cannot handle it. _

 

 **Nat:** _'The Avengers cannot handle it.' Says the man who cried on seeing the flawless security execution I did on his wedding. And he thinks Steve can't dance._

 **Steve:** _We'll see Tony, we'll see. *gives off a death stare to the camera while Nat discreetly raises a brow and smirks for the lens*_

 

**You** : _ *sweating, excited and nearly out of breath* We. Are. Dancing!! *jumps* Peter and I are going to show these grownups we can burn the dance floor. _

 

**Peter** :  _ *blurts out* I can't dance tomorrow it's too much pressure I mean it was fine till aunt May was coming because she has seen me do more embarrassing things than I can count but MJ will be there too and I can't handle the nervousness I just couldn't say no when Y/N asked last week because she's too nice no one can say no to her and she's going to hate me tomorrow! *gasps for air* *eyes filled with fear and regret* She's going to kill me. Or worse *camera pans in* she'll no longer let me play Fortnite with her. _

 

 **Rhodey:** _*licks his lips* *crosses his arms across his chest* *nods* Yeah...Tony didn't say any of that. I was just messin' with them. *stifles a laugh* I cannot wait to see what these idiots do tomorrow._

_ *Camera pans over his shoulder to show Scott shaking his hips with sultry salsa moves before twirling and landing in Wanda's arms and making her giggle till both of them are on the floor* _

 

Bucky joined Clint and Loki over the platform to watch the three pairs try their own styles on the song while Sam tried to keep the decorum and ordered them to repeat the steps till they were ingrained in their brain.

"Do they teach you to dance at Asgard?" Bucky asked Loki with a genuine curiosity as he settled down next to him and sipped his coffee from the 'Gina knows best' mug while offering Clint the entire pot.

"Do they teach humans to swallow food?" Loki softly threw back. "Asgard has a taste for all things luxurious and flamboyant in the most delicate manner; when I say delicate of course I exclude the bloodshed Odin is responsible for. Dance is one such luxury."

Clint raised his brows in mild tired surprise. "So Loki, the God of Mischief, knows how to groove?"

Loki slightly shook his head. "Good thing I am adopted,” he stated before looking at the mug in Bucky’s hand. “By the way, that’s Stark’s mug.”

“I know,” Bucky answered, sipping from the cup and earning a mischievous smile from Loki.

 

**Clint** :  _ I cannot believe I am saying this but I would pay to watch that weasel dance. _

**Loki** :  _ Do I know how to dance? *looks at the camera with slightly narrowed eyes going wide with a touch of something dark* You'll have to travel to Hel to find out. _

 

You and Peter finished your routine and you finally were able to spot Loki sitting atop the platform. "Loki, why don't you join us? Do a number with Nat or Wanda."

Scott cleared his throat. "Or Scott," you added with a roll of your eyes, forcing him to give the camera the look.

"Loki can dance with you. My hands are full," Nat mentioned as she ordered Steve to take five before they did the routine again.

"Yeah, mine too," Scott stated, forcing a huff out of Wanda.

 

**Wanda** :  _ I am the one who's catching him after his twirls. _

 

"So am I!" You huffed out.

"But Peter isn't performing tomorrow so you need a partner anyways", she added, Peter freezing behind you while sharing a look for a camera as the entire room went silent, making the opening of the door echo too loud.

"Jesus!" Tony announced as he entered with a hint of visible disgust over his face, "Did something die in here?"

No response.

Everyone- including the camera- was too busy to find out the outcome of the stare you gave Peter with the intensity of lava resting in a dormant volcano.

"Oh," Natasha realised what had just happened, "I didn't realise he hadn't-"

"I was going to tell y-"

"When? Two seconds before we were supposed to perform?" The softness in your voice was too comfortable for even the audience.

 

 **Loki:** _If I were that spiderling right now, I would be anticipating a storm. But I am just a God. *smiles and winks for the camera*_

 

"What is going on?" Tony read the uneasy energy between you and Peter and stepped towards the both of you, making you break through whatever trance you were in.

"Nothing," you answered with the same eerie softness before picking up your mug and jacket to walk out of the room. "Welcome home, Mr Stark."

 

 **Steve:** _Great! *flails hands in the air* this gives Tony more reasons to hate me. Now he will never let me babysit his kids. Any of them._

 

**Tony** :  _ I leave for a few days to relax with my wife only to come home to find two of my kids in a quarrel! And Clint hanging out with Loki? *pure disgust and horror* What is happening? *scrunched up features suddenly straighten up* *shouts* Steven Rogers! _

_ *another voice* Babe! _

_ *Camera zooms out to show Pepper with a much bigger bump eating a doughnut* _

**Tony** : _ *immediately diverts attention to his wife* Yes, darling. _

**Pepper:** _*with her mouth full* They're kids! They are going to fight! Let them settle this on their own._

**Tony:** _ *soothingly* And end up with them either not talking to each other for their entire lives or throwing hands at each other like twelve year olds! Or both! _

**Pepper:** _ *stops chewing to look at the camera* Well, now we know how Fury felt. _

**Tony:** _ *scrunches his nose and furrows his brows in confusion* *twists his hand in question* *has a sudden realisation* *whispers* Son of a- _

 

**Next Day**

All the conversations in the lounge stop as you step in from the dorms in your black Pikachu pajamas and head straight for the kitchenette.

Loki, who is perched by the window sill looks up from his book to see what silenced everyone; only to have his eyes meet your frizzy hair a mess at the back while you fix yourself some orange juice and boiled eggs that Bucky ever so kindly offers.

"Oh, my," Loki announced ever so soothingly, going back to his book, "somebody left the cage to the dungeon open."

Every head turned towards the God with the wrath of a billion stars.

"Yeah, someone thought you might need some company," you chuckled before biting into the egg, letting everyone breathe in peace.

"Y/N," Scott cooed as he sat down next to you, "honey, it's two in the noon. Don't you want to get ready for the evening?"

"For what?" you asked with your mouth full, forcing Wanda to raise her brow and look at the camera in mild shock.

"The...the welcome home party we throwing Tony, remember?" Steve sat down next to Scott, "that you so meticulously planned."

"Easy there Steve not every one of us has such intense love for the-"

"Don't say i-"

"Language," Natasha concluded, quite content with herself while Steve groaned.

"I'll join you guys sometime around...when I feel like it," you responded, draining the juice down your throat in one go before getting up and going to the sink to wash your dishes and walking back to the dorms.

"We need to get her a partner," Sam slowly declared to the room, "she is clearly devastated by this."

"Where's Pietro?" Clint asked Wanda.

"That's your first choice?" Scott raised his brows questioningly at Barton, "No offence to that beautiful boy, though."

"Who else then 'cause no way in hell am I dancing."

Natasha was quiet all this time. Steve saw the knowing look on her face as he tilted her head towards the one sitting in front of her.

"What about him?"

The camera caught every head except Loki's turning towards Natasha to watch who she was pointing at, forcing the camera to pan in on Loki's calm features.

"I have this incredibly uncomfortable wave rushing down my spine," the God said softly, turning a page, "so stop staring. I will not make a fool out of myself because some human cannot handle disappointment."

Clint snickered. "Yeah. Right."

 

 **Clint:** _That son of a ***** doesn't know how to dance! *guffaws till tears stream down his face*_

 

**Later in the Evening**

Peter cautiously entered the lounge with MJ following him and froze the moment he saw you dressed in a black crystals evening gown, ready to steal hearts.

"H-ahem-hey Y/N," he tried his best to come up with the strength to talk t o you. "Listen I'm-"

"Relax, Peter. I forgive you," you mentioned before giving him a hug, "I kinda understand," you continue, your eyes wavering away towards MJ for a split second before coming back at him. "Just be fast with your warnings next time, man."

Greeting MJ you headed down to the ballroom, leaving the two alone.

"You ruined her night," MJ announced with a straight face.

"What? No, I d-" Peter went white.

"Why did you chicken out then?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's a little bit on the DL right now," Scott's voice came from the direction of the dorms till the camera brought him in frame. "But you'll know it pretty soon. I promise you."

"Okay?" she threw a suspicious glance between Scott and Peter before leaving them alone.

Peter sighed with relief as he plopped down on the sofa. "For a second there I thought you'd tell her."

"And spoil the fun? Hells naw!" Scott whispered.

The camera caught a cleaned up Loki dressed up all black in what looked like quite an expensive suit.

"You know what, when Nat suggested Loki today I was wondering if he'd say yes," Scott's voice made the God stop where he was, "just for the heck of it."

Peter's head rose up from the fluff to look at Scott with questioning eyes. "Why would he have said yes?"

Scott shrugged. "To piss off Stark. Do you really want to be caught dead dancing with his alleged daughter?"

Peter nodded his head in acknowledgment and the camera turned in Loki's direction to watch him look back at it and witness the slow erosion of a smile on the edge of those thin pink lips.

 

**Ballroom**

"Is it weird to say that I'm excited to watch Steve dance? Shake his thang?" Tony asked Pepper, who gently smiled. "Coming from you it unsurprisingly doesn't surprise me at all," she affirmed before taking one of the glasses of fresh juices being served to the crowd, smiling with a full-blown glow. Tony could not take his eyes off her. "You look beautiful."

"I know," she spoke softly, moving as close to him as possible. "You look adorably handsome as well," she moaned teasingly while biting her lip, her arms wrapping themselves around his waist.

"Adorab-what does that even mean? I am so ruggedly handsome that there would be aliens on a planet worshipping me as their God."

"Okay, slow down. The performance is about to begin. Is Y/N dancing?"

Tony looked around in the crowd, his eyes finding you seated at the bar nursing a glass of Mojito in your hands.

Before he could walk in your direction the lights went off and a soft melody on the piano-infused into a full-blown five-second orchestra play before the song started.

 

**_Look at me, just look at my eyes_ **

**_Can’t you see, I want to know why_ **

 

You swivelled your bar stool to turn around- but not before you had downed the entire glass- to watch the two pairs line up in the middle of the dance floor, the lights flooding above them to grace their already elegant movements.

 

**_Your mind is rewinding_ **

**_Too tangled up in space_ **

 

The sigh that left you did not even make it past your lips when the camera caught a figure in the dark taking you by the hand, drawing out expressions of mild surprise before you moved in the direction it pulled you in, taking to closer to the middle.

 

**_So why don’t you slow down_ **

**_Strips all your thoughts with me_ **

 

Before you could make out what was happening- and before Tony could say 'Is that Y/N?'- you were brought smack in the middle of the dancefloor.

 

**So why don’t we just sway**

**keep moving in my way**

 

Coming out of the darkness, Loki pulled you towards him, your back right into his chest, gathering attention from Steve, Natasha and Scott, tried to go back into the rhythm of the steps on seeing the two of you- you shocked just as much as they were- move just like you had practised.

 

**_If you don’t wanna stay_ **

**_At least we can just sway_ **

 

Turning you around, Loki smiled as he placed his arm on your waist before taking your hand in his.

"You know the steps?" you whispered loud enough for the cameras to catch it.

"What doesn't kill me is engraved in my brain forever," Loki gesticulated, forcing you to smile as he made you twirl.

You came back in to wrap your arms around his neck and move just like you'd practiced it

 

**_So why don’t we just sway_ **

 

The notes turned to background radio wave as the camera focused on a horribly shook face of Tony Stark while Pepper looked on in amusement, drinking her juice. Right next to them a highly entertained Rhodey took away a slightly appalled Clint's untouched glass of whiskey and took one long satisfying swig.

 

 **Clint:** _*pure pale shock* That son of a ***** knows how to dance._

 

**Loki:** _ what...I already am in Hel. _

 

**_keep moving in my way_ **

**_If you don’t wanna stay_ **

**_At least we can just sway_ **

 

The upbeat came again with you, Nat and Scott moving about your hips before your partners joined in the fun and dipped you low, almost looking like they- or rather, you and Loki- gave Tony a mini heart attack. He mouthed the words 'what is happening' at least three times- twice to himself when he saw Loki smile as he gracefully matched every step with you, and once to Pepper when he saw the God move your leg around his by his hand, attaching you to his hip before dipping you down once again.

 

**_Can’t you see, I just wanna know how_ **

**_Why you keep staring at the walls_ **

**_I’m wondering where your mind goes_ **

**_‘Cause all I see is_ **

 

You came back up and slow danced with him around the floor with a huge smile plastered on your face.

"What?" Loki had to ask.

"Nothing," you shook your head, "just glad Sam's intense drills didn't go to waste."

"Hell yeah, they didn't," Sam called out form the corner near your position before giving you an assuring wink and smile.

 

**_Your mind is rewinding_ **

**_Too tangled up in space_ **

**_So why don’t you slow down_ **

**_Strips all your thoughts with me_ **

 

"Thank you," you said softly, never making eye contact with Loki.

"Your presence is really annoying," Loki stated, earning an offended gasp from you, "but it gets worse when you are mad, clearly. And you are tolerable on your nice days."

"You, sir, have a really weird way of saying, 'that's what friends are for, buddy.'"

While all this happened, Tony was giving Clint some instructions that forced Pepper to gasp and prevent him from disappearing into the crowd but he was already gone.

You were already twirling out again, reaching farther out and away from Loki to move back in before you witnessed an on the spot change of choreography. And partners.

 

**_So why don’t we just sway_ **

 

Clint grabbed your hand and danced you to the other side. "Come on, kiddo, dance with m," he announced while Loki's hand that had just been emptied was grabbed by Tony who twirled in and matched his step with the God, never taking his eyes off Loki.

 

**_keep moving in my way_ **

**_If you don’t wanna stay_ **

**_At least we can just sway_ **

 

"Stark," Loki greeted.

"Rudolph," Tony chimed back while the camera watched Pepper groan and hide her face in her hand. Loki gently twisted him around to let him swing his shoulders just like Scott and Natasha were doing it.

"Having fun, are we?"

"Oh, I am now," Loki answered as he twirled Tony and dipped him, earning a couple of woots from Rhodey.

 

**_So why don’t we just sway_ **

**_keep moving in my way_ **

**_If you don’t wanna stay_ **

**_At least we can just sway_ **

 

"Back," Tony ordered and Loki followed, bringing him up, the smirk never leaving his face.

He loosened his grip on the man but Stark grabbed his hands tightly as the music died down.

"Careful, now, Loki," he whispered, straightened his partner's collar, "last time she might have forgiven you but if you do anything and I mean any-stupid-thing to break that woman's heart I swear you will have me to deal with."

Loki leaned in a bit, his smirk turning into a gentle smile, "Of course, Tony."

"And bravo! You dance really well."

"Thanks. You too," Tony acknowledged before straightening his suit jacket and leaving the dance floor.

 

**You** :  _ *dancing with every word* It. Was. Amazing! _

 

 **Loki:** _*smiling* Quite satisfying. Especially the climax. *smirks at the camera*_

 

"So that was the reason you couldn't dance tonight," MJ turned to Peter, making him pause halfway through his glass of Tropical mix.

"What?"

"Yes, it was."

"Yes, it was," he repeated after her.

"I was gonna say you better not screw Y/N's heart Parker but you have an adult on your side so...whatever," she shrugged.

"Oh, yeah. Scott helped out too," Peter nodded, forcing MJ to narrow her eyes.

"Yeah, but that's...not who I meant."

 

 **MJ:** _*sitting comfortably low on the recording room chair* So these two dudes have no idea there is a third person out there shipping Y/N and Loki. *tired sigh* Yeah, I'm not that surprised given Peter's history of *gestures vaguely at everything*. Imma let him and Mr Lang figure this one out on their own._

 

Everyone except the Avengers had left. All of them sat in the Lounge appreciating Tony’s moves while he went off about what worse Pepper had caught him doing.

“That’s true,” she admitted, glad to be out of her heels, resting on the sofa with Nat giving her a shoulder massage.

You picked up your mug of hot cocoa and came to sit next to Loki, only to have Tony quickly take the space between the two of you.

“You were amazing today,” he complimented you, making your cheeks heat up with the discomfort of not knowing how to take compliments.

“Thank you, Mr Stark. It’s...all thanks to Loki. I wouldn’t have done that today if wasn’t for him.”

Tony was about to say something when Steve beat him to it. “Yeah, he really did...that.” The Captain said with some unknown deep thought before taking out his wallet and handing twenty dollars to Nat. So did Sam, Bucky, Wanda and Scott.

“Woah! Gambling? In my house?” Tony exaggerated, “You too, Wanda?”

“Why not? It was worth the entertainment,” she quipped.

The elevator dinged, making Tony’s eyes light up.

“Oh, I think you’re in for more than just entertainment tonight, sweetheart.”

Wanda’s confused eyes followed Tony’s to turn and watch the unannounced guests only to have them completely blown up in what looked like the surprise of her lifetime.

“Who’s that?” you whispered at Loki, making Tony turn and notice he was actually standing now, giving you enough room to scooch towards the God and forcing a groan out of your alleged father.

“You toaster’s home,” Pietro announced tiredly, “I’m off to get some sleep.”

No one paid much attention to the silver boy- except Scott, who handed him a bottle of water as the kid went past him- as everyone was busy looking at the person standing in front of them.

Wanda was barely able to breathe as she stepped closer to the figure with eyes that were about to cry a river.

“Vision.”


	10. Episode 10: Bloody Situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. First my laptop broke down. Then I had to go somewhere that was not home. The I got sick at the new place. So...yeah.

One of the cameras tried to focus on the card castles Sam and Bucky were intensely working on in the lounge, zooming in on their sweaty foreheads while they cursed each other to their respective doom.

"Bucky," Sam artificially gasped, "Hydra men are standing behind you!" Forcing Bucky to roll his eyes as he kept his metal arm steady to put up another stack.

"At least I don't have to pretend about your side. Look outside the window, Sam," he tilted his head towards the glass wall, "your family doesn't seem that proud of you." The camera focused on a couple of pigeons and crows sitting on the roof outside, cooing at the two frenemies, as Sam's eyes moved towards the camera, already tired for the day.

The meditative silence that both these men had been working in would be broken by their friends as they passed them.

"Look, Scott," Natasha mentioned as she and Scott came back from their training, the latter clearly in a worse condition with his face flushed and sweat giving his entire shirt another shade of blue, "they're building you summer homes."

"Awh-su-hum," he wheezed, his hands on his knees, "just make sure you get the plumbing right for the bathrooms."

"Go away," Sam raised his voice, while Bucky just furrowed his assassin brows.

Just when they thought they could relax themselves, Tony and Steve walked in.

"What the-"

"Really? Is this what I pay you guys for?"

A minute or five passed by as they continue making the third floor of the castle in silence.

"You do realise it'll take a mere huff of breath from me to let all fall down," Loki called out of the initially melodic quiet, leading Sam and Bucky to throw curses at him as Peter watched in horror.

"I swear to God I'll cut your hair off if you even breathe in my direction," Sam hissed.

"Walk away, snake!" Bucky growled.

Loki sipped his piping hot tea from your mug as he basked in the curses being thrown at him, exchanging a mischievous look with the camera while Peter looked at the masterpieces in admiration.

A few minutes later the camera turned to watch you enter the space from the Dorms, your eyes carrying slight bags of sleeplessness while the air around you seemed hot and heavy.

By now, everyone had settled down around the two men to choose one side and root for a winner.

"Morning, Y/N," Rhodey chimed as he stepped out of the elevator, "got any plans for the weekend?"

"Morning, Mr Rhodey," you greeted with your cracking morning voice still trying the find your way through the sleep, "I think I'll just sleep in, thanks."

Everyone sent a greeting your way while their eyes were still stuck on the competition.

 

 **Peter:** _Mr Lang, Clint and I have placed our bets on who will win. I think it'll definitely be Mr Winter Soldier Bucky with the good hair, sir. *smiles for the camera*_

**Scott** _ : I'm rooting for Sam. *nods* He's intellectual, he knows how to manoeuvre through all the opponent's moves, he's...um... he's got a good pair of...eyes *nods head more furiously till he finally gives up* Bucky scares me sometimes. _

**Clint** _ : I bet Scott is bettin' on Sam right now 'cuz I told him Bucky said he will squish all the ants that come his way. While he was asleep. *giggle-snorts* _

**Natasha** _ : *raises her brow* Who am I rooting for? *gives her signature deadly smirk* wouldn't you like to know. *Doesn't blink till there is a rattle behind the camera and she's pressing her lips from giving away her enjoyment* It's neither of them *breaks eye contact to look at her nails* _

 

"Hey, Y/N," Peter chimed in excitedly, "Mr Wilson and Mr Barnes are making castles out of our Cards and Against Humanity set. Who're you betting on?"

The camera focused on your butt rising over the kitchenette slab to reach on the other side for something. Your irritated tsk displayed you didn't really find what you were looking for, only to turn around and walk towards the crowd.

"I dunno," you muttered half-heartedly, looking at anything but people's faces.

"Would you like to make card castles?" Tony asked you, receiving a judgment stare from Steve sitting next to him.

"No," you replied under your breath as you reached the space where everyone was sitting together, your brows clearly having a tense time.

"Really?" Steve commented at Tony.

"What," Tony shrugged, "can't I spend some quality time with my daughter? Right, Y/N?"

Your eyes went towards the mug in Loki's hand. He noticed the trail of your stare too. And without so much as a fuss, he handed you the mug.

"Careful, it's hot," he warned you softly, making almost all eyes turn towards him while he went back to watching the tense house-construction, taking his sweet time to notice those eyes still glued at him.

 

**Tony** :  _ *scrunched nose carrying a grim and confused look* I don't know. *looks at the camera* watching Loki be *raises brow* sweet just...ugh...*feels a current of disapproval go through his entire body* _

 

"I am going to wreck you, Buck Buck," Sam commented.

"Not before I stab your hard work with my smart work, Sammy boi," Bucky spat back.

The camera panned in on the blankness hovering over your face as you looked at the two soldiers share what they thought was good insults.

 

**You** :  _ *still blank* lame. _

 

Taking in a deep breath you made the entire lounge go silent when your hand swung back before coming to destroy the entire four floors in the air, your flat voice going, "lame." Jaws dropped down one by one while two voice went gasp from behind you; everyone trying to contemplate what happened. Everyone except Natasha and Loki.

 

Natasha:  _ *looking at the camera with the same look except for this time with a smirk* *raises a hand to show the wad of twenty-dollar bills that fans her face* _

 

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't break your phone right now," Sam's low voice was the first thing to break the intense current inside the air.

"Because you are a p-"

"OKAY!", "All RIGHT!" and "Holy sh-" broke the lounge before you could complete the sentence as Bucky and Sam tried to let your words seep into their skulls.

All this time Natasha and Loki were having a gala time while Peter was looking at them with an unadulterated mix of surprise and horror and Scott was just plain confused.

 

**Bucky** :  _ *trying to reduce the blood flow in his cheeks* _

**Peter** _ : *spreads his arms in a questioning gesture* Where do they get that kind of confidence? _

**Scott** _ : Why did everyone jump up? All she was going to say was 'Because you are a pure heart'. Damn! *scoffs* *looks at the person behind the camera* ...What. _

_ *Scott and Peter turn to look at Bucky for answers* _

**Bucky** :  _ *still trying to reduce the blood flow in his cheeks* _

 

"Y/N! What the hell?" Tony's voice sloped down as he looked at you with a hint of shock in his eyes.

Your barren features took a one-eighty and your eyes went at the scattered cards lying across the table and floor. "I...I..."

"It took us four hour-"

"I'm sorry okay!" you shouted, putting the cup between already awaiting palms of the God and run back to your room, your eyes glistening just the right amount for the camera to catch it.

 

**Ten Minutes Later**

"What the hell just happened?!"

Sam looked at Tony while Bucky watched the cards with the hope of watching them resurrect themselves again.

"What do you mean what the hell happened?" Loki chimed as he sat down beside Scott, giving an already befuddled Stark another layer of perplexity, turning to anyone who would back him up on this.

"Oh, I am with Loki on this one," Natasha raised her shoulders and crossed her arms, giving Tony a mini heart-attack while everyone in the room watched on.

 

**Tony** :  _ When Nat sides with someone in the room you should know that she has recognised that said person has the balls to stand up enough for her to have an opinion about them. *sighs* I cannot believe I get to see Loki be that guy. *falls silent to contemplate as he becomes a lump in his chair* What, is Clint on a sabbatical or something? _

 

**Steve** :  _ What the hell kind of team-up is this? *scoffs* *expressions go blank* wait a minute. *American resolve glistening over his face* Did Loki brainwash her? _

 

**Loki** :  _ *eyerolls* *sighs with hands crossed over his chest* *looks deadpan into the camera* No wonder he is still a virgin. _

 

"Okay," Tony broke the eerie silence- that was judging both Loki and Natasha- with his index finger standing in the air, "I get the game was the worst past time these two could think of but  _ do not _ tell me you have some absurd explanation for Y/N's behaviour!"

"It's not that absurd, really," both chimed in.

"I mean," Loki shrugged most casually, "isn't it obvious?"

"What is obvious here?"

Natasha tsked and rolled her eyes at Tony, offending him quite visibly.

"By the Norns," Loki raised his voice just a smidge, "she is bleeding her innards out, Stark. She is undergoing her monthly bodily changes."

The camera swivelled through the silence towards the kitchenette, where Pietro stood half shocked with marshmallows falling out of his already stuffed mouth.

 

**Pietro** :  _ I did not see that coming *eyes wide with shock* _

 

"She is menstru-"

"All right!," Tony cut him in the middle, growing uncomfortable with where the conversation was going, "Okay! Enough! I get it! She's ...she...she's got stuff going."

" _ Menstruating _ ," Nat and Loki synchronised again much to Tony's discomfort.

 

**Tony** :  _ *rubbing his palms all over his face, trying to get rid of the embarrassment* uuuugghhhhh!!!!! *removes hands and sighs* This is disgusting *shakes head* Loki and Nat agreeing? *feels a jolt of displeasure go down him, forcing him to wiggle where he sits* ugh! *nearly sobs* I'm gonna get sick. _

 

**Scott** :  _ Ohhhhhh!!! So that's why! For a second I thought she was possessed by my teenage self or something. Phew! Thank God for that. _

 

"What," Loki looked Tony dead in the eye, breaking the creepy silence in the lounge, "don't look at us like that. Captain and Sergeant know it too."

Every pair of eyes and camera took a one-eighty towards the incredibly flushed faces of Steve and Bucky trying to dissolve themselves in the sofa while hiding their faces behind their palms.

"What?" Scott blurted out in the heat of the moment, "Y/N shared her PMS blues with  _ you two _ ? I thought I was her go-to man!"

"I'm sure you still are, Mr Lang," Peter chimed in, not able to take the hurt on Scott's soft face.

"Your super-hearing," Natasha broke the conversation with a tone of realisation, looking at the embarrassed old men, "that's how you know, don't you? No wonder you always let me choose the movies on blood nights."

"So  _ that's  _ why you didn't say anything to Y/N, just now! You knew!!!" Sam shouted with the comprehension. "You let me nearly throw hands at her, you dumb racoon!"

Bucky slipped further into the sofa while Steve tried to come up with words of reasons but clearly fell short.

 

**Natasha** :  _ I always knew something was up with these two. *camera pans in on her face* I waited for my cycle last month just so I could get these two morons to pay for Clint and my pizza night dinner. *smirks**turns to her side* Oh come on! *nudges the person sitting beside her* get over it already. _

_ *camera pans out to show Clint's horrified eyes looking into oblivion* _

**Clint** :  _ I just want bleach from my mind the fact that that horned God knows too much. *utter disgust shining on his face* way too much. _

**Nat** :  _ *turns to the camera* *sighs* *camera zooms in on her* Men. _

 

**One Hour Later**

"Yeah," Sam muttered as he mixed the contents of his coffee. "I get we screwed that one, but I still cannot wrap my head around what you two have been keeping to yourselves this whole time."

The camera turned towards the duo of Steve and Bucky sighing and looking up at Sam from the lounge, tired and wanting the conversation to stop.

"Jesus, Sam," Bucky spewed, the irritation concentrating between his brows, "it's not like we asked for it, okay."

"So you guys what," Scott interrupted with a curious whisper, "hear all that...that blood thing in the uteruses shed or something?"

"It's like-"

"Like any muscle inside the body sounds to us," Bucky broke through Steve's narrative, the camera following his eyes, which were following your movement as you walked to the elevator, got in and went to the rooftop, letting him breathe while Peter and Scott looked at each other and the camera with judgmental stares for Bucky.

 

**Bucky** :  _ It's like hearing an animal devour another animal. _

**Steve** _ : Like a dragon roaring really low. The most dangerous kind. _

**Bucky** _ : Play that sound to yourself in the middle of the night while you go for a glass of water and find a woman sitting in the dark in front of a television that isn't turned on. *camera pans in* You won't be able to sleep for two weeks. _

**Steve** _ : *looks at some invisible void with mild horror* *whispers to Bucky* Natasha? _

**Bucky** _ : *shakes head* Wanda. _

**Steve** _ : *surprised* Oh! *gently pats Bucky's back* _

**Bucky** _ : *nearly whimpers as he speaks in squeaks* Her eyes glowed! Her eyes! _

 

**Rooftop**

"Go away, Javier," you declared with not much strength as Javier seemingly came up and out over the stunning rooftop that housed a garden, a pool and even a bar. You sat over the grass with your back to the camera and the sun, your head resting over your arms locked upon your folded legs.

"Listen to her. It's more entertaining downstairs, anyway."

The voice came from behind the camera, making it turn to find itself staring right into Loki's chest.

Loki walked towards where you were, your head still low, and sat down beside you turning once to check whether Javier had left. Clearly, he didn't catch the camera recording from behind the bar a few feet away from where you had planted yourself.

"Here," Loki took something right out of the air.

You picked up your head quite unwillingly and stopped short at the sight of the glistening wrapper in his hand.

"That's...that's...where did you get this?"

"Peter and Natasha told me that chocolates make it easier for some people," he answered, raising his hand for you to take it. Which you did.

_ That isn't some ordinary chocolate that Loki gave me today. _

You looked at the God, who busied himself into looking at the horizon in front of the two of you.

 

**You** :  _ That was...is my favourite chocolate. No one could've just known that. Especially not Loki. _

 

You tore open the wrapper and broke the bar into two, giving one to Loki.

"Oh, I don't-"

"Try it," you didn't budge, "you'll like it."

Loki scoffed, about to say something when his eyes met yours, forcing the camera to zoom in more to bring your faces in the frame, watching Loki observe the certainty in your eyes before taking his share.

"Cheers," you softly declared, hitting your piece with his and biting into the softness. Loki imitated you, slowly chewing his share with pure judgment before his brows released the doubts, his pupils dilated enough for the camera and his body relaxed.

 

**Loki** :  _ She knows some decent sweet snacks. I'm surprised how is Clint still sour after living in her company for so many days? _

_ *another voice* It's the coffee he drinks. _

_ *camera pans out to reveal Natasha opening another one of your favourite chocolates to share with Loki* _

 

**The Lounge**

The elevator dinged and everyone watched in mild amazement when you came out giggling at something Loki said.

"Oh my God!" you announced with wide eyes as you crossed the space to go sit down beside a very flustered Sam. "You two can hear my insides dying! How cool is that?!"

Steve looked at you with pure blankness over his face before his eyes wandered towards the camera. "There's...nothing cool about it, really," he muttered, barely audible.

The frame caught you shifting towards Sam, who sat upright the moment he felt the centre of your attention.

"Hey, I'm sorry for ruining your game," you apologised, biting your lip, trying to sound as sincere as you possibly could.

"No problem," Sam stressed with periodic nods, "i-is there anything you want? Anything I can get you?"

"Oh, um...no I'm cool. Just in need of a hug that isn't warm and sweaty. N-No offence!"

"None taken."

Scott didn't even turn while he looked at you with his signature grandmother smile. "Hey, Loki," he shouted, "Y/N needs a hug from you."

Loki hadn't even breathed in when Tony stomped into the lounge.

"No one's hugging her," he declared, becoming the first witness to watch your face lose a shade of its shine as your smile slowly faded away.

"I didn't mean tha-hold on jus-PETER GET THAT THING IN ALREADY!"

Everyone looked at the direction of the corridor from where Tony had just come in to see something giant enter the room.

All air left your lungs while curses filled the air from every single person sitting in there.

"HOLY SHIT," you seemed to have lost your voice, "IT'S BAYMAX!"

Peter peaked from behind the positively bloated robot.

"It fisted me!"

"What?" you, Tony, Scott and Sam broke the party to look at Peter in horror.

"Yeah, we fist-bumped each other and I even taught him a new handshake!"

No room had breathed a sigh of relief like these guys did while Steve and Bucky looked at them in diluted confusion.

"You better not be pulling that Christmas, Tony."

Pepper entered from behind Peter, walking towards you to give you a hug.

"How's little Morgan doing?" you cooed at her belly which had swollen more than the last time when everyone had seen her on the wedding night.

"She is doing well and now I can feel her excitement too. I felt a kick last night."

"Okay now take your Baymax and hug the hell out of it," Tony announced, gesturing you towards the cute wellness robot, breaking Pepper away from you to give her a kiss and get her to  _ ‘sit down already _ ’, only getting a  _ ‘did you just order me? _ ’.

 

**Later That Day**

The camera caught puffs of smoke coming from the corridor of the dorms till it caught Scott burning some kind of incense.

 

**Scott** :  _ It's lavender. It'll help keep Y/N's nerves calm. The kid has already gone through so much. Though it's nothing I thought she at least deserves a frustration-free period. _

 

Clint and Pietro were coming back from a sparring session covered in sweat, making jokes at each other.

"Good work on the footwork today kid. I told you using your brain instead of just your feet will work wonders for ya," Clint gesticulated with a light laugh.

"Ha ha," Pietro mocked him. "Shut up, old man."

Pietro playfully punched Clint's arm as they were walking the length of the corridor before stopping at the sound coming from the room nearest to them.

"Hey!....stop it........hurt.......shit..........no!"

"That's Y/N's room," Pietro whispered cautiously to Clint, who took a step towards the door with a nod.

"Is she okay?"

Clint shushed Pietro.

"Loki! Stop! I'm gonna die!"

"Mother-" Clint clicked opened a door and paraded in with Pietro right on his heels.

The camera caught a very baffled Loki and you staring at the visitors while your hands hung in the air. Holding gaming controls. The game on the screen opposite you still going on.

Loki's hands went down but not before he paused the game. His green eyes were looking directly at Clint.

"Don't you ever get tired of doing this, Barton?" his silky voice questioned Clint's sanity.

"One of these days I will have a reason to break the door  _ and  _ break your nose, snake," Clint said after a long pause of contemplation.

You and Pietro exchanged a confused look and a shrug.

"Um....what is going on?" you finally spoke.

"Nothing," Loki didn't bat his eyes away from the archer, "just the Hawkeye's very very bad luck of being at the right place at the wrong time."

He finished with a killer smile.


	11. Episode 11: Oh God! They were Fake Dating!

**Scott's voiceover** :  _ I don't feel like they're going anywhere. _

The camera showed you sitting in the lounge, your hair a hot mess, your reading glasses nearly falling from the bridge of your nose. Pietro, with quite possibly the biggest sandwich he could make along with a tall glass of iced tea, passed you, sniffing the air of the lounge before scrunching his nose.

"Mh, haven't showered for two days, huh? Let me guess. Your finals are from tomorrow."

You didn't even acknowledge what he just said, too engrossed in the pile of notes and books kept in front of you.

"How could this bitch of a scientist ever think this could work?!" He heard you exasperate before wishing you luck and walking to his room.

The camera shifted from the lounge to the library where Loki sat engrossed in a book only he knew the theme of. Mainly because it was a hardback with nothing but the blackness of the fabric covering it.

 

_ I know! I know! This is finals week and I could not possibly let Y/N have any distractions but that doesn't mean Loki can't be distracted? _

 

The camera shifted from a very engrossed Loki- who didn't so much as flip when Clint walked by, calling him all sorts of names, or when Stark quite literally peeped into the library, telling Rhodey to let Loki just sit there and maybe bring him some snacks and let world rest in peace till that book lasts- to a very curious Peter by the library door.

 

 **Scott:** _*concerned* But looking at the way Y/N looks like right now, the only way she's going to distract Loki is with the exam stench coming from her. *very concerned*_

 

Scott sat by the kitchenette and watched as Tony brought you a cup of coffee to keep by your side.

"I can't drink coffee," you mumble, scratching your head with your pencil, "it does something to my heartbeat."

And without any word, Tony took away the coffee to the kitchenette, dumped it in the sink and made a jug full of iced tea with lemon and mint and placed the jug and glass at your table, pouring one for you.

"Thank you," you muttered, scratching your face this time.

"You better study hard or I'll cut your phone time," he announced.

Tony stood there, shifting his weight on his legs before walking out of the room. Your eyes followed him, your smile growing bigger with every passing second at the sweetest little gesture before gulping down the glass of iced tea and feeling drained power return to you while Scott followed Tony, all the while saying, “You know I could’ve had that coffee.”

 

**The Next Day**

**Scott:** _Okay, so I may have done a little something today. And by something I mean I took advantage of Y/N's sullen mood because she doesn't know how her first exam went._

 

The scene shifted to you sitting in the library this time, a soft playlist on as you sifted through your notes while sitting in your PJs at three in the afternoon.

 

_ Oh yeah! I told her library would be so much better to work in. No distractions. *chuckles* _

 

Scott, proud of himself, walked out into the lounge to have all the pride drained from his face as he saw something he wasn't supposed to. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be in the library!"

The camera swerved from his shocked face to look at Loki lounging in Tony's favourite seat, deeply engrossed in his book.

The God looked up from the pages, only to furrow his brows at Scott. "First the spiderling drags me out of the library saying it's better in the lounge and now you come out of nowhere to push me back in there. What is going on?"

 

**Scott:** _ Dammit! We should have synchronised! *flails his hands in defeat* _

**Peter:** _ I know! *groans* _

**Scott:** _ *turns to Peter* don't you have exams, mister? _

**Peter:** _ *shrugs and droops* I finished all my revision when Aunt May grounded me for hanging out with Mr Brock. _

**Scott:** _ Who? _

**Peter:** _ *tired sigh* Venom. _

**Scott:** _ Oh! OH! Ohh, kid. No. _

**Peter:** _ I know *nods* _

_ *silence* _

**Scott:** _ Will she allow you to meet him under adult supervision? _

**Peter:** _ *stares blankly at the camera before turning to Scott* _

_ Both Scott and Peter give a knowing smirk to the camera before doing a fistbump. _

 

**The Night Before the Last Exam**

A soft wail like a note rising from a broken guitar rose from the library, forcing Loki and Peter to stop on their way to the roof to fly Peter's final science project.

Exchanging confusion building on their faces, they entered the space- with the camera following them right at their toes- to find out  _ you  _ slouching into your knees in a corner surrounded by scattered notes and books.

"Y/N?" Feather-like lightness left Loki's lung as he called out your name, "are you okay?"

You raised your head to show the audience the mess that was your face smeared with tears and snot along with the hair sticking in the waters of despair- only the strands that managed to not go wild over your head. "Umm-nna~ff~aal 'marro-"

Loki's brows furrowed at alien language you spoke.

"She said 'I'm gonna fail tomorrow'," Peter tried to help with the translation.

 

 **Peter:** _Of course, I know. I'm an expert in tear-translation. Thanks to all the A-holes who broke Aunt May's heart. *squints in anger at the camera* Especially you, Charles. *camera pans in* You are on my black-list. *forces out a low husky threatening voice* It is so black it can compete with vantablack. Oh, yes! That is exactly what I'm gonna do to you if I ever see you get out of Apartment 24, 75th block, Myrtle road._

 

"I've been trying to learn the observations and conclusions and their downsides but nothing is going inside my head," you sobbed, your eyes closing up and the tears running down thicker and faster than all the waterfalls you visited in your life.

Loki looked at you before shifting his gaze between Peter and his winged bot in his hands. Coming back to you, he gave you his hand. "Come with us," his words more of a command and less of a wish, "we're going to fly Peter's invention."

You looked at him with third-degree confusion crinkled between your brows, about to burst out but not doing so for the God's hand was still out for you. Waiting.

Peter took one- not so discreet- step towards you, breaking the silent conversation of whatever sort of understanding was going on between the two of you to hand you a tissue.

Wiping your tears, and clearing all nose blockage, you dunked the used tissue into the nearest waste bin before taking Loki's hand. Those long and slender fingers wrapped over the back of your palm, helping you up quite effortlessly- not to mention, gracefully.

The camera recorded the two of you walking out, going to the rooftop and testing out Peter's work. Just as time passed, both men could see the difference in you. By the end of the evening, you were laughing your heart out when Peter tried to explain Loki what was the urban meaning of the sentence ' _ Word _ '.

Loki was seen smiling as he watched you cackle without care.

 

 **Loki:** _Y/N has no idea how horrendous she looks when she laughs. *chuckles* her mouth open wide, her tongue on the edge of coming out to catch heaven-knows what while she tries to hold her stomach as if it's going to dash somewhere. *chuckles again* And to think that silly woman was worried about some unworthy test that's not even going to matter in the future. *shakes head and rolls his eyes*_

 

Peter was enjoying watching the two, happy and content, playing with his science project when suddenly he felt his brows crinkle right when Loki and you are standing less than a foot together.

"No, dummy, that wire is the reason it is grounded," he heard you tell Loki, who looked at you with shock in his eyes.

"This dummy created a grounding spell when he was twelve. You better start to learn a thing or two about the God you live with, woman."

You looked up at your 'God' with a tilt. "Damn, son. No wonder you're so single with the ice you spit."

"Learn some better metaphors too," Loki quipped without even taking a breath, feeling a slight nudge in his torso as you punched him.

The crinkled brows turned into narrowed eyes looking at the camera.

 

 **Peter:** _Why have we even been trying so hard? *infuriating whisper*_

 

**Next Day**

"I did it! I * _ bleep _ * did it!" You stormed into the conference hall with the biggest grin slapped on your face, watching the grim faces of the Avengers turn to you and transform into the warmest smiles. Even some hoots and applause.

"That's my girl," Natasha declared, pulling a chair next to her for you to sit down, the smile never leaving her face till you planted your ass in the cosy leather.

"Oh, wait," you suddenly felt your body sit too straight for your comfort, "am I interrupting something?"

"You mean apart from your biological father going on and on about how incompetent everyone in this room is?" Loki added from where he sat, which was the far corner with a witch-hat that had  _ dunce _ written over it. This did not seem to bother him for he looked two comfortable with his feet resting on another chair as he read a book- this time with a red hardcover. "No, not really."

"Dum-e," Stark's voice announced, making the robot squeak and stroll towards Loki before gassing him with an extinguisher.

You tried your best not to let the laugh escape your mouth.

"We are having a meeting regarding this latent threat. So, if you don't mind please walk out of the door where you came from," Tony ordered you, swinging his fingers towards the door before turning to look at the screen.

"Wait a minute," Scott nearly jumped off his seat, "that's it! Y/N can help us with the mission!"

A whole bunch of 'excuse me', 'wait what', 'you gotta be shitting me,' and 'do you want me to kill you's rose up around the table, definitely taking you by surprise.

"How could I possibly help in a mission?" you stressed the last part so Scott would know what he was talking about.

 

 **You:** _I can barely lie to myself about how much ice cream I’m gonna have in a day and Scott expects me to lie to professional liars and criminals? *raises his arms in disbelief* What?_

 

"No, seriously, just hear me out," Scott stood and begged out loud, trying to calm everyone. "The target knows us all. He has seen our faces and one whiff of us near him and he'll disappear from here before we get a chance to retrieve the shiny thing."

"The pulsator," Steve helped Scott.

"Yes, that thing. Thanks, Cap. So Y/N can be our eyes and ears at the restaurant that we know he is definitely going to visit tonight with his wife, thanks to his crush on the bartender that works there. All she has to do is go there, enjoy and observe while Peter and I take care of the extraction."

"Why can't you two be the eyes and the extraction?" Pietro asked the most obvious question.

"What we if he sees this and develops a crush on me?" Scott pointed out at his bod while Peter pointed at him with a 'true fact' expression.

"Y/N is not going and that's the end of the discussion," Tony declared. Or at least tried to.

"I agree with Scott on this one," Natasha broke the low buzz, nearly giving Tony a stroke. "But," she raised a finger while sitting up straight, stopping whatever dad-rage was about to come out from his mouth, "I'd rather ask Y/N if she'd be open to the idea of doing it."

That's it. All pair of eyes were on you now. Especially Tony's trying to wear you down.

 

 **Y/N:** _And I thought studying basic psychology was mental murder._

 

"Oh, I'm in," you simply shrugged, taking away twenty years from Tony's life. "Just give me a test run before you send me out in the field."

"You're grounded," Tony announced, making you furrow your brows at him with a layer of pure judgment.

"Oh come on, Tony," Steve smirked, "she's your daughter after all."

"She is not going in there. Not alone at least."

"Loki can go with her," Scott added without skipping a beat, getting the God's attention. "They can uhh...they can play it like they're on a date!"

 

**Clint** :  _ *twists his jaw* *narrows eyes* Is this another one of those bets or is Scott just trying to get on my nerves? _

 

 **Tony:** _*gazes right into the camera* Right now I am searching ten thousand ways to slowly murder an ant. *taps the phone without looking at it* *phone chimes* *still stares at the camera* Oh look! It says suffocate them in their sleep._

 

"I'm extremely interested in knowing why Loki and why not Pietro or Wanda?" Tony was genuinely curious, never seeing the coherent groans and shaking heads that filled the room. Even you stretched the corner of your lips and gestured him to cut the topic.

"Pietro had a crush on a Y/N. Y/N didn't like him. I knew all of that the entire time." Wanda practically picked up the baggage and threw it smack into Tony's face."

 

 **Tony:** _*shocked eyes looking at a distant void* Suddenly I feel Pepper saw what I could never see. And to think *pause* all this time I was worried about frat houses._

 

 **Pepper:** _Oh! Don't put this on this me! *raises her hands in question with crinkled brows* I was worried about her staying with people sharing three brain cells that are solely made for fighting. And those brain cells belong to Natasha, Wanda and Steve. *nods* Probably._

 

He gave Pietro a 'the audacity of this bitch' look. "You know what, I'll go with Y/N," he finally concluded. According to him.

"Tony, stop being such a whiner," Natasha broke the wave of authority Tony clearly was riding on, justly, "Y/N is an adult who can act her age during the mission and that's all we want her to do. We will obviously be standing by in case anything goes wrong. Loki will be going with her because thanks to you and Fury no one has any shred of evidence of his existence now. No one would even look at them twice while you have a tendency to be a magnet in the crowd."

 

 **Loki:** _She's wrong. *scoffs* *nods his head in his defence* clearly she doesn't know how many heads have turned to look at me twice when I twisted them off their shoulders. *smiles contently*_

_ *camera pans out to show Natasha sitting with him, looking at the God with a judgy brow* _

**Natasha:** _ Only you could interpret that phrase in such a way. *pauses before breaking into a sly smile* I respect that. _

 

Everyone could feel how hard Tony was trying to refrain from breaking his own jaw by the veins showing all over his face and neck. "I'll be keeping an eye on them."

"No," Steve and Natasha blurted in unison. "You are staying out of this one before you start making it personal," the black widow, announced.

"I'll be fine, Mr Stark!" you stressed, "Loki'll be with me all the time."

 

 **Tony:** _*nearly breaking the glass with his voice* “flailing his hands wildly* THAT'S EXACTLY THE *BLEEP* SHIT THAT I'M WORRIED ABOUT!!!_

 

"That's if he's okay with it," you interrupted yourself, turning to Loki- forcing others to look at him too- to find out his thoughts.

 

 **Loki:** _*counting on his fingers one by one* Going on a covert mission, getting out of this godforsaken place, getting the chance to finally at least punch someone in the face, *faces with camera with innocent wonderment* all the while getting to piss off Stark and Barton because I will be with the former's daughter? *slowly wrecks up the evilest grin* Well, isn't that a ball!_

 

 **Tony:** _*his hand on his heart* Friday! Check my vitals! *turns back to camera* I can feel him scheming right this second. *turns his gaze away to the door* there is no way I'm leaving my daughter alone with him._

_ *camera pans out to a very calm and very pregnant Pepper reading something* _

**Pepper:** _*clicks tongue, still engrossed in her Tycoon magazine* Sweetie he's alone with your daughter practically every time you aren't in the room._

**Tony:** _ *eyes go white while he turns seven shades whiter before looking at his wife* What, are you trying to kill me? _

**Pepper:** _ *still doesn't look up* oh, get over yourself. _

 

**Mission Night**

"Everyone check your comms," Natasha's voice crackled in Steve's ears, who was dressed rather casually for himself in a black leather jacket over a white shirt and blue jeans. Wanda, on the other hand, was all black, laid back in her seat inside the surveillance van.

 

**Wanda:** _ *smiling* Ooooh! Someone's dressed to hold hands!! *giggles* _

 

"Is the Raven and kitten ready?" Steve asked in the comms.

The click of the door turned the camera to show Natasha stepping in. "They're ready," she announced before checking Steve out. "Oh!" she whistled, "looks like someone is buying a lady some Virgin Mojito tonight."

Steve crinkled his brows before realising what was going on.

"Really?" he flatly spewed at Nat.

"And then maybe ask her if he could get her a cab since she didn't have a car," Wanda added matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yes," Nat continued, sitting down on the empty chair, "and then leaving her at the front of her house and telling her to lock all the doors and windows because ‘ _ this ain’t the good neighbourhood ma’am _ ’, giving her a salute and walking away."

Giggles burst out through Wanda while Steve twisted his jaw and rolled his eyes at his ladies.

"Shut up," he simply cut, looking at nothing in particular in the screen in front of him.

"Okay, but why am I the kitten? Kitten?! Really?" your voice broke through the comms, making the captain smile eventually.

"'Cause you are cute but dangerous," Nat spoke with a motherly intent. "Now go get those bad guys for us." And just like that, she switched her warm tone to a freezing one, "Loki."

"Icy," Loki's voice commented monotonously before clearing his throat, "Are you sure you want me to go in, Captain?"

He almost brought the worry lines over Steve's forehead. "I might kill a few men, women and allies with just my looks."

A crssh and crash followed by barely audible curse echoed through the comms.

"Did he crash into a bin?" Steve whispered to Nat, who shook her head. “Must be our extraction guys. Wait, is Tony listening into this?”

"Scott, Peter. What's your twenty?" Steve posed the question.

"Yeah, sorry," Scott answered, "I think that was me. We're in position. Playing the best servers at the minimum wage we're being paid."

"He's here," Steve announced it more for himself, "all right. Positions, everybody. Y/N, Loki...go."

.

*The cameras planted inside the restaurant captured everything in HD because Tony wouldn't want anything less than a 4k resolution for watching bad guys being taken down by his team*

The subtle light bouncing off the bricked walls inside the restaurant gave it a quaint touch, something way too sophisticated and warm for what they were about to witness.

The speakers playing soft jazz crackled without a warning to softly go 'la la la' before breaking into the heavy beats accompanied by the two figures entering the space.

And suddenly, everything went slow.

 

*When I popped off then your girl gave me just a little bit of lockjaw

Baby so cold, he from the north, he from the Canada

Bankroll so low I got nothing else that I can withdraw

Ran out the door*

Loki entered the space in his most casual yet somehow scintillating apparel of a black henley hugging him, showing away the muscles no one thought he had.

The cameras caught Wanda and Natasha's brows going up as they leaned in- quite in sync- towards the screens to see the perfect cuts on his biceps that were teasing every looker. Steve really had to look at them twice to believe they were looking at Loki in a new light. Now that henley would have been enough, but the black jeans perfectly curving his toned ass really added to the mix, making both the red-heads turn to eye each other and give a knowing smile, all the while Steve pressed his lips, sighed and let his head drop.

*I shine my wrist it go like shashasha, shashasha

I got your bitch singing like lalala, lalala*

You walked by Loki's side, the camera panned in on you to show your thigh-high sundress painted in yellow flowers drowning in red, your legs exposed to lights, soaking them in, your arm locked in Loki's while the other one let your hair fly free.

Eyes flew towards the two of you- well, mostly Loki- as glasses tipped, spoons clattered, women forgot to breathe, men bonked themselves into walls and the allies drowned in that dapper energy the God just threw off like breathing out carbon dioxide.

*I shine my wrist it go like shashasha, shashasha

I got your bitch singing like lalala, lalala

How I stride like that?*

The music suddenly died, the cameras panning in on Peter standing by the audio controls in one corner while Scott stood next to him with the plug in his hand. "He deserves better than that. They deserve better than that," Scott stressed in a whisper to Peter, who was still stunned by the intro song cut short, "not that this wasn't...kewl."

 

Peter raised his brows at Scott. "Kewl? Really? Kewl? That's how you think the youngsters talk?"

The manager walked by glaring at the two dressed as servers. Scott giving him a 'hey how ya doin' smile.

Scott shushed him to see what Loki and you were doing.

The God was clearly basking in the attention he was getting. You, on the other hand, seemed...

 

 **You:** _Of course, I love attention. Who doesn't? *smiles before licking her lips and feeling that smile disappear* Who doesn't love it when people keep staring at you to question if you have something on your face? *smiles again, but this time it's forced* But then it turns out it's just your face!_

 

"Wow," you muttered as you sat down by Loki's side, the camera panning over to your target right behind you- a man in a blue suit, clean-cut beard and soft blonde hair going back- showing the close proximity in which you were sitting, "people are really not buying we could be together."

Loki settled beside you, looking at you in some deep thought before asking, "Would you like to sell it?" You shrugged. "Sure. I always wanted to be an actor," you whispered, leaning in close and touching his chin with your finger, making Loki smirk devilishly. The camera did not miss the woman and man sitting at two separate tables looking at the two of you with such intensity- and quite possibly, jealousy. While the man practically stabbed the table with his fork, the woman cracked the glass of champagne in her hand.

Loki- it seemed- could see everything going around him without even seeing. "Well, Miss Girlfriend," he sang softly, leaning closer to you, his cold breath tickling the hairs on your face, "you seem to be getting a lot of negative attention just by breathing right next to me."

"Hmm," you tilted your head and hummed, taking a swig of water without increasing the distance, "I can surely feel their stare on my back, boyfriend. They are willing to kill me just to get a whiff of you."

"Well, why don't we give them more reason to spell murder on their hands?" he spoke softly before extending his arm behind you, wrapping you in his side.

"Comfy?" he asked. You nodded, trying to suppress a smile. "Smooth raven," you muttered.

A thwack was heard followed by Loki cursing under his breath as he retrieved his arm from behind you for both of you to watch the back of his hand go through a light bruise before quickly disappearing.

"Oh, I am sorry, mister," an old man with a grey beard, fine lines and judgy eyes, dressed in a funky beach shirt and jeans. "I thought you were trying to strangle this beautiful dame."

"No, he wasn't?" you shook your head in confusion at the old man.

 

 **Old man:** _*looking directly at the camera* *in his authoritative old man voice* that's what all men want you to think. *camera starts panning in* don't zoom on my face *stops and slowly pans out*_

 

"Okay, kitten," Natasha's voice crackled through the comms, "the ant and the spider are approaching the target."

You turned towards the man in question, observing him for a good second before turning to the woman sitting with him. "That is one stunning piece of jewellery you have there."

The woman turned to watch your gaze right at her sapphire bracelet. "Why, thank you! My husband bought it from me," she cooed, looking at their target.

"Too bad my darling isn't amused by stones," Loki chimed in, shifting his hand over yours before grazing it softly and letting your fingers intertwine, "otherwise I would have gotten her something...out of this world. Something worth...infinity and beyond."

 

**You** :  _ *evidently not being able to breathe* *licks her lips* *tries to talk normally but all that comes out is a whisper* damn! He's a pro! _

 

**Scott** :  _ Is it just me or does Loki look effortlessly hot tonight? *turns to watch Loki planted casually in his seat, leaning towards your ear to say something that makes you smile so wide that you have to bite down on your lips* *camera pans out to show Scott glowing* So hot! *creases brows* Of course, full homo! Even Hope knows that. _

 

"Your wife is a very lucky woman," the man finally spoke, taking you by surprise.

"Son of a beee-" a staggering shout came from behind your table. Both you and Loki- along with your target and his company- turned to see the same old man making quite the ruckus, pausing only when he realised all eyes were on him and pointing to the stage.

The piano and trumpet introduced a beat and in came a man in full leather on the stage with his back to the audience, the microphone on ready.

_ I went down to the river and lost my mind _

_ I said Lord won't you save me just one last time _

_ Thought I told ya' _

_ I was looking for a sign _

 

"Wait, I know that voice," you uttered loud enough for only Loki to hear.

"Son of a-" Nat's voice crackled over the comms before the lights shone about the slick face of Clint Barton swinging and singing on the stage all the while glaring at Loki with a death stare, almost hissing the song through his teeth.

 

_ Had it once wonder if I would get it twice _

_ Peace of mind only comes in the afterlife _

_ Thought I told ya' _

_ I was looking for a sign _

 

"Oh," Loki rolled his eyes, "you have got to be joking. Romanoff!"

"Ignore him," Steve ordered, "eyes on the prize. Y/N."

You got up just when Peter the server was 'passing by', to collide with him and have your dress ruined by whatever liquid he was carrying.

Like any villainous gentleman, Mr Target got up and offered his handkerchief to you, asking you if you were okay. Mrs Target, just as quickly she'd gotten jealous, felt sparks when Loki took her hand in assurance.

"It's all right," Loki reassured her, "I'll take care of her."

The woman was growing ten shades of red as she watched Loki give her his signature smile, making her melt right there.

What neither part of the target couple caught was Scott taking advantage of the dim light, you and Loki to swap the man's phone and wallet, hiding it no-one-knows where.

.

**The Red Velvet Van**

"I got it! I got it!" Scott barged into the van wheezing.

Nat took the phone from him, already cloning it. "You look like you ran a marathon."

"Yeah," Scott huffed, standing straight finally, "my manager's gonna fire me any second so...woah! Do you have a date tonight, Cap? Gonna hang out at a diner? Grab some shakes and do the twist?"

Wanda did a really loud ‘ha-haaa’ while Nat just gave Steve an 'I told you so' look.

"Here, take it back and keep an eye on Clint," Natasha ordered Scott, getting a salute in return before the van's door closed behind him.

.

**Inside the Restaurant**

The old man too had joined the little mayhem caused on Mr Target's table, accidentally smacking his hand when he tried to grab your arm and ask you if you were okay.

"Hey grandpa," Mr Target nearly shouted in the old man's face, "are you blind?"

The old man looked at him with subjective eyes before muttering, "Not yet, no. I can still see your wife trying to flirt with her friend."

You and Target turned to watch Mrs Target laughing out loud while grabbing Loki's arm every chance she got.

"Babe," you raised your voice just enough for Loki to hear you over Clint's aggressively teasing music, "I'll go to the washroom to clean this out."

The camera caught Scott coming back, smoothly keeping the phone on the table before grabbing the old man. "Let me help you back to your seat, sir," he stressed, nearly running into Loki's back, pushing him into you.

Loki grabbed you by the waist in order to not fall over you- neither of you noticed the shriek that left Clint and the bewildered 'what? WHAT?!' that left the old man- wrapping his other arm around your upper back.

"You want me to come with you?" he asked rather seriously.

"No, I'm good," you assured him with a nod and a smile, all the while the camera capturing the hesitant jealousy steaming up inside Mrs Target as she watched the two of you get so intimate.

Loki let his hand drop from your back to take your hand in his, never losing his eye contact with you. Bringing your hand closer to his lips, he planted a light kiss on the back of your hand. "Come back fast," he requested ever so softly, leaving you without words for a few seconds before you remembered how to blink.

Neither of you noticed Clint's 'son-of-b****' off the mic as he jumped off the stage, walking towards the two of you before being carried away but a young brunette boy soothing him with a 'there, there. Shhh, let's go outside and shoot some arrows, okay? Yes, the spider is clearly stronger than the hawk tonight."

.

**The Lounge**

"We got the location of that Pandora's box Pulsator. Friday is checking out the geography of the location where it's stacked. Vision said he'll pick it up on his way back from another mission."

"Wait," Sam interrupted Natasha, stopping in his swivel chair with a dramatic pause, "when did Vision go on a mission?"

Peter arched his brow before leaning towards Scott. "Can you say that fast? _ When did Vision go on a mission _ ?"

And so began the whispering battle of saying the phrase as fast as possible.

"Last night," Wanda joined the conversation, "he wanted to get some special paprika," she ended with a knowing smile, clearly meant for the boys to stop talking and start smiling.

"Dayum," Sam stressed with his little high pitched voice, "that AI is finally getting the hang of it, isn't he?"

"Speaking of getting the hang of it," you spoke from the couch, sprawled on it lazily while Loki sat on the floor, curiously looking at Peter trying to teach him, Steve and Bucky how to play Cards Against Humanity, "somebody looked like they were ready to take their first date to second base."

Steve looked up to watch every set of eyes looking at him with a devilish smile.

"Sure, if by second base you mean eating greasy burgers at a hilltop and talking about how expensive the nearest city is," Clint added as he entered the lounge.

"Says the man who kept being a cockblocker the entire night," Steve did not even miss a beat, leaving everyone to gasp and shriek senseless.

 

 **Sam:** _*Bucky and Peter sitting next to him* I don't know whether to hoot for that comment Clint throw or shriek at Steve throwing a f*****g perfect comeback._

**Bucky** : _ *guffaws* I'm just surprised he knows what cockblock means! _

**Peter:** _I know!!!! *laughs*_

**Sam:** _ *looks at Peter in confusion and laughs at him* _

**Bucky:** _ *pauses mid-laugh* *tilts his head to look at some invisible void, his face still plastered with that paused laugh* _

**Sam:** _ *looking at Bucky* you don't know it either, do ya? _

**Bucky:** _ *without missing a beat* Nope. _

 

"What?" Clint nonchalantly poured himself some whiskey, "I was a distraction. Or should I say... _ main attraction _ ," he grinned at the eyes rolling at him.

"Hey, great job tonight, Y/N," Natasha scruffled your hair, gathering affirmed 'yeah's through the lounge.

"Thanks, guys. It wasn't much though. All I had to do was...be there."

"Cool," Nat smiled at you before morphing her face into a serious one, "now tell me honestly. Did he do anything inappropriate with you? 'Cause I'll drive to his place and break his bones right now if he did."

"Wow, no, thank you so much, Nat. I really appreciate it. But no, he didn't do anything. Loki was there with the whole time. He was a good distraction for our bi target."

 

 **Scott:** _*suggestively sings* Distraction? Or should I say 'Main Attraction'! *arches his brows repetitively while smiling hella wide*_

 

"All right, now you off you go," Nat patted you on your back, forcing you to get up and walk towards the dorms, "go get some sleep and remove all the tiredness from your exam week."

You went off to the dorms while the rest of the gang sat down on the floor to play Cards Against Humanity.

"Javier," Nat pointed at the boy behind the camera, "come with me for a sec."

Both of them got inside the elevator, rode to the first underground level and got out to walk into the direction where the overhead dim lights led them.

"Sir, you have company," the duo heard from across the glass wall where Tony sat amidst an ocean of holograms of information.

Nat clicked the door open to let the camera see Tony swipe away everything with a wave of his hand.

"Hey, you're not allowed here," Tony said, not looking at Nat or camera. "This is my holy ground. So, off you go."

"Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just gathering evidence. Next time wear a better disguise," Nat dropped the bomb on Tony, who sat there puckering his lips at the air for what could be said was a considerably long while for Tony Stark.

"I was gonna go for something Sherlock-y but Pepper says I get very method and it destroys the mood," he finally spoke.

"She's old enough to take care of herself, Tony. Not to mention she had me looking out for her all the time," Nat had her arms crossed across her chest now.

"Why is Javier here?" he looked behind the camera.

"Like I said, gathering evidence to blackmail you in the future. She is just starting to get to know you, Tony. Do you really want to sabotage the father-daughter relationship even before it begins?"

Silence falls over the wide space that is broken only by Dum-e's whirring as he looks between Nat and Tony before turning towards the camera.

"I just want to protect her, Nat," Tony sighed, dropping his hands on his lap. "I just want to protect her from all the bad in this world. And you know why."

"I know," she replied softly before sitting down next to him, "but that doesn't mean you won't let her experience anything out of your comfort zone. And Loki is not bad. You know this better. You travelled to space and met some really weird creatures."

"That's true actually."

"Give him a chance too. He's done nothing yet that would tell us otherwise. And if he ever would, I have stacked up on that alien juice in my poison dart for a reason."

"Sometimes I truly wonder why do you hang out with Rogers. He doesn't deserve a friend like you."

Natasha chuckled and got up.

"Yeah, yeah. Steve tells me the same about you," she commented as she walked away, signalling Javier to follow her.

"Find that old man a date, Nat."

"Go back to your wife, Tony. You need to sleep."

"Right."

.

"For the last time, Peter, the Leaning Tower of Pisa isn’t an example of erectile dysfunction," Scott stressed as him, Peter and Loki walked back to the dorms with their respective cups of hot tea.

"Is this another one of your  _ meme _ things?" Loki asked.

Before Peter could answer, your door opened and you came out devoid of makeup, your hair tied up- still messy- dressed in your overused shirt and shorts.

"Oh, yes!" you whispered in content, taking Loki's mug from his hand to blow on it before taking a careful swig.

"Hey," Loki ordered, "that's mine!"

"But what's yours is mine, fake boyfriend," you sang ever so innocently, never catching the fistbump that happened behind Scott and Peter's back.

Loki looked at you with furrowed brows before arching his good brow at you. "Oh, if that's the case then you're mine, fake girlfriend."

You looked at him for a moment before going 'cool'. "I've got two assignments, one mini project for the break and three appointments to make. Do them by the end of the day tomorrow since I am all yours, fake darling," you suggested, taking another swig.

Loki opened his mouth to speak something to shut you up and get your cup back while simultaneously you got on your toes, turned to his one side and planted a light kiss on his cheek.

"Good night fake babe," you signed off softly, giving him back his cup and walking back into your room, leaving Scott and Peter more notably befuddled that Loki.

 

 **Scott:** _*water at the edge in his eyes* *whispers* this is it. Peter, this is it._

**_Peter:_ ** _ *nods at Scott and turns to the camera* *whimpers* why is this so much better than a Disney movie? _

**_Scott:_ ** _ *sniffles* Because it ain't canon. It's real life baby! _


	12. Episode 12: Far From Home

"Why do you have to be so hard?"

Peter, Javier('s camera), Wanda, Vision and you turned your heads towards a very heated Sam trying to walk out of the elevator with Bucky, their bulked up biceps fighting each other to get out of the elevator together, telling the other to go first, but going at it together, eventually looking at the other with a murderous stare. Finally, Sam rushed out before Bucky.

"It's not my fault if you cannot handle my weight," Bucky gruntled lowly, forcing you to exchange some very confused looks with Peter, Wanda and Vision. Vision was more curious than confused like the good young baby AI that he was.

"Handle your weight? Dude, do you know how hard it is to handle your ass when you keep shifting like that? Throwin' me off my rhythm."

What started as confusion now turned into the horror of knowing the unknown, forcing your eyes wide.

"Wha-" Peter tried to ask you in a whisper, but you were already covering his ears, making him look at you questioningly. "You know I'm eighteen, right?"

"I throw you off your rhythm?" Bucky jolted back slightly. "It's you who's always wiggling under me and throwing me off balance!"

"Of course I gotta wiggle, man!" Sam burst out, "you dig your fingers in me so hard! I can't just freeze there when you get rough!"

Now you were covering your ears while all Peter could whisper was, "no, you know what, cover my ears. I liked it better that way. Please. I beg you."

"I only do that because you push us too high, okay!" Bucky argued, compelling you to hide your head inside the couch. Peter just sat there frozen in shock, his eyeballs on the verge of coming out. "You clearly still have no idea how to ride because you're too used to doing it solo."

You whimpered. Peter managed to blink. Hard.

Vision was simply staring at the two of them.

Wanda went by normally shuffling the Uno cards.

"Fine, then I'll go back to solo," Sam raised his hands.

"What, no!" Bucky begged, "I like it! Please, next time I'll won't dig my fingers so hard."

"And no biting."

"It was one time! The first time! I was scared of the freaking high!"

"You bit my shoulder! I said no biting."

"Okay. Okay!"

"All right."

A shake of the hand wrapped around the other's arm sealed the deal before the party looked at the crowd sitting on the lounge floor.

"'Sup," Sam casually greeted the four of you. Bucky just simply waved.

_ Red _ . You and Peter were red from your ears to your neck.

You got up, your hands trying to find some sort of support to hold you through everything you were going inside you right now, before ultimately folding them together.

"I'm glad you guys reached a common ground," you pointed out with a forced smile that nearly made your eyes disappear, "but there's um...a bedroom for a reason. Please, think about it before...you know, you guys argue again."

Saying that, you left the lounge, whispering, "Now how the heck do I bleach my memory?"

"Wait, I'm coming with you," Peter announced, getting up and taking your hand to walk out.

"Where are you guys going?" Bucky asked.

"Dr Banner's lab," Peter stated rubbing his arms, "to find out how we can destroy brain cells?"

"But doesn't that affect other functions too?"

"It would be worth it."

Sam and Bucky exchanged a confused look before turning to the two lovers left behind.

Vision shifted his gaze between your figures disappearing behind the wall while Sam and Bucky, contemplated something before turning to Wanda. "I think they were terrified for some reason."

**Wanda** :  _ Sam and Bucky were talking about their plans to fly. Well, Sam doing the flying while Bucky hangs on his back. Stark showed me the whole carrier thing he made for them. *nods* *sighs* Yeah, Y/N and Peter can't read thoughts now can they. *eyes go wide in some latent thought* That girl has such a graphic memory! She could already imagine everything within seconds. *scrunches nose* in 4K! *shudders* _

 

**The Lab**

"Pass me that blue vial," Banner murmured near the glass, the camera taking his face shot from the other side of the glass- zooming out to focus on a thin glass-like structure being held by a pair of tongs right in the middle of that vacuumed glass cube.

Long white slender fingers pressed a glass vial filled with the blue liquid right to Bruce's nose, making the scientist jolt a little before looking at the bearer of the hands, sighing, and taking it in his gloved hands.

The lab goggles were adjusted again before the vial was placed in another set of tongs and introduced inside the controlled environment.

This time, behind the glass besides Bruce, Loki showed his face, looking at that thin glass strand with utmost curiosity.

"What forces are you conjuring this time, doctor?"

Bruce shushed him, concentrating on the solution.

"Alright," he got away from the cube to clear his throat, "Friday, take the exact amount right to the very last millimetre and pour the N.A.T. on the compound."

Loki was on the edge of his toes now.

**Loki** :  _ It is only once in a fortnight that these excuses of humans do something partly entertaining. I wouldn't want to miss it when Banner has another mishap and morphs himself into a rabbit this time. *gazing in the distance fondly* Maybe a purple one. *smiles* _

"In three, two..."

Loki was quickly shifting his gaze between the experiment and Bruce. "Oh for the sake of Valhalla! Just  _ do  _ it already!"

"One!"

Flashes and sparks flew the moment the liquid touched the compound, making the two cover their eyes till they were sure the blazes died.

"Experiment ninety-nine point nine-nine percent successful, Doctor Banner."

"What's that, a new floor-cleaner?" you commented, walking inside the lab with Peter.

Loki leaned in to watch the outcome of the experiment while Bruce removed his goggles and gloves, too struck by the final product to contemplate your poor jokes.

"That's..." Loki lost his words, following Bruce's hands as they carefully took out an almost translucent and seemingly delicate piece of a flower made of glass- its petals decorated with capillaries running through them, reflecting softly on their own wavelengths, dancing gracefully, twirling and shifting with the lights falling on them.

"A flower," Loki grumbled.

You and Peter, on the other hand, were gasping out loud- clearly mesmerised by the outcome.

"How did you do that Doctor Banner?!" you exclaimed, not able to contain your excitement.

"Just used the geometric structures of certain compounds to make a piece of art for me," Bruce cajoled, clearly both impressed and shocked with himself.

Loki snorted, catching your attention. "And here I was thinking you were finally making some use of that brain of yours Banner."

"Come on, Loki," you stressed, "this is practically art out of science. Appreciate it. And," you turned around to look at Bruce, wiggling your shoulders as you spoke, "I'm guessing it's for someone special."

Bruce blushed straightaway!

"Uhh..." he tried to hide behind his hands while adjusting his glasses, "It's her birthday. I-I-I asked her when's her birthday once and she told me she didn't remember her real one. Just that today is the date she thinks is her birthday. So, I thought I'd do something special for her."

"Ugh, kill me," Loki complained, stomping- very graciously, his shoulders moving with an angry swing under that dark green t-shirt he was wearing- to the other end of the lab.

You, on the other hand, squealed with utter delight, jumping where you stood. "This is fantastic, Bruce!"

"Thanks!" Bruce glowed, smiling ear to ear. "And do you know it's pretty sturdy. Almost indestructible. And at the same time really delicate."

**Bruce** :  _ *twirling the flower in his hand with the most tender smile* Just like her. *smiles again* *pauses* *camera pans in his anxious face* Shit, don't tell her I said that. _

The camera caught Loki still rolling his eyes at the entire conversation at the other end, bonking the little bobblehead of Hulk kept on Bruce's desk.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I should bake her some of my molten chocolate cupcakes!"

This caught the God's attention.

"Yes," he declared out of nowhere, composing himself, "that would be a great gesture."

"Oh, but we're out of ingredients. I finished the last batch when Cassie came over," you pointed.

"Well, take one of the cars to the nearest grocery store," Bruce stated matter-of-factly.

Your lips turned into an 'o' before shaking your head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Bruce questioned, "I'm sure Tony won't mind."

"Won't mind what?"

The camera swerved to the lab's entrance to watch Tony saunter in.

"Taking one of your cars so she can get the ingredients to make cupcakes for Nat's birthday," Peter answered.

"For everyone," Loki added from his corner.

Tony looked at you and shrugged, "Sure. I don't mind. But I don't want even a single scratch on my cars. Otherwise, Friday can order some for you."

You stood there quiet while everyone looked for an answer.

"Yeah, I think Friday should handle that."

"Oh, come on, Tony!" Bruce huffed, "let her go if she wants to go. I'm sure nothing's gonna happen on the most desolate road in this part of the state."

"No, that's-" you tried to speak, only to be cut short by Tony.

"Okay. Not what I was going for but since you started it, the weirdest shit happens on desolate roads, Bruce!"

"Guys, listen-"

"She'll be in her car," Bruce stressed, "stopping at the grocery store, getting the stuff and coming back. Not to mention Friday'll be there looking out for her."

"Okay, doc-"

"I was talking about responsible driving and you just had to take it to another level!"

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!"

Silence.

Neither of the science buddies tried to say something, shifting where they stood.

"Well, that solves everything," Loki's words echoed through the air of embarrassment.

**The Driveway**

"You really don't have to do this."

The camera captured your very concerned face before panning out to show Tony and Loki standing on your either side while Peter sat by the side with his sunglasses on, sipping on some orange soda through a crazy straw.

**Peter** :  _ *glasses on as he finishes sipping through his crazy straw* *a good wind playing with his hair* Oh, I know how it's gonna go down. *turns his head to the sound of the engine getting louder* Better than a Formula One. _

Thank you, Friday," Tony announced as a black SUV comes and stands in the driveway right next to you. He stepped towards it, clicking open the door and gesturing you to move, "In you go."

But you didn't budge. "Yeah, I don't think so." Shaking your head vigorously.

"Why not?" Tony asked point-blank.

"Uh..." you hesitated, taking the corners of your jacket in your fingers and wringing them, "I...I don't think I'm made for driving."

"Everyone is made for everything. What everyone lacks is practice."

Sounds of clapping broke just as Tony concluded, making everyone turn to watch Loki and Peter applauding his words.

"Not bad, Stark," Loki applauded over the soft wind flapping your hair everywhere.

"But-"

"We're just trying something new here, kid," Tony pointed out, shifting the door wider.

You looked at him and then at the car, your fingers nearly ripping the fabric of your jacket apart before a breath of 'ah, screw it’ left your lips and you climbed in."

Tony put on his glasses and moved to the other side, all the while looking at Peter, "there better not be any crumbs and sticky soda on my driveway."

Peter gave him a thumbs-up as continued munching happily on the chips.

The camera now shifted to the dashboard, catching a good angle of the car's inside from the front.

Tony sat in the passenger seat and shut his door the same time Loki sat in the back and shut his.

"Alright then, let's begi-" he began, before stopping short on catching Loki in the back- leaning forward to hear what all Tony had to say, "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know how to drive your modest transport, either," he simply stated.

Tony opened his mouth to say something snarky but you beat him to it.

"Oh, thank God! It sucks being the only adult in the room who does not know how to drive."

Tony looked at you for a moment before settling in his seat. "You can stay but I don't want to hear a peep out of you. Okay, you" he pointed at you with his eyes, "seatbelt."

You quickly let your hands go to your side to bring down the seatbelt and secure it down at the other end. "Now," Tony continued, "look down at the pedals. From your right- gas, brake, clutch. The Gas pedals move the car, the brake will slow it down and bring it to a stop and the clutch will help you shift gears when the speed changes. When the speed goes high on this meter, the gear goes high, When it goes low, we go low. Okay? Try moving the gear and see if it's comfortable. Yes, just like that. Good. See that button with the start/stop sign? Push it when you want to start the car. Yes, you can start it in neutral as well. Once you start the engine you put the gear in drive while pressing down on the clutch. Okay? Wanna try it?"

Your breaths were a little shallow by now. "You sure?" you nearly whimpered.

"Yes, I am. It's okay. I am sitting right here," Tony comforted you.

You looked down at the pedals while your hands gripped hard on the wheels. Taking in one deep breath, you pressed the button and felt the car vibrate a little but never heard the roar of the engine. "Is it broken? I don't think it started-"

"It has a quiet engine," Tony blurted out to stop you from hitting the button again and again.

Making an apologetic face, you wiggled in your seat, straightened your back, checked the mirrors for no reason at all and took another deep breath. "Okay, now I press the clutch and change the gear?"

Tony nodded.

All this time Loki rested his hand in his palm, slowly getting tired of the instructions.

Pressing the clutch, you shifted the gear in drive.

"Perfect," Tony praised you, "now let go of the clutch slowly as you lightly put your foot on the gas."

With excitement in your eyes, you nodded and let go of the pedal. And just as you did, the car jerked, throwing Loki ahead.

"I'm so sorry!" you shouted, in Tony and Loki's direction.

"And this is why you wear a seatbelt," Tony followed with a chuckle, looking at the grunting figure of Loki trying to sit back up.

.

**The Driveway**

"Yo," Sam greeted Peter as he came out with Bucky, "got kicked out of the house?"

Peter shook his head, slurping his soda, never shifting in his seat that he was clearly well-adjusted in. "Watching Mr Stark teach Y/N how to drive."

Both Sam and Bucky looked at the SUV in the distance jerking and moving before coming to a stop, starting, jerking and moving ahead, suddenly picking up speed, suddenly screeching to a halt before the whole cycle started again.

"Huh."

Peter pointed to his left without looking. "There are chairs in there."

.

**Half an Hour Later**

"What're you guys doing in the driveway?"

Peter, Sam and Bucky- all three of them flinched hard at Natasha's voice coming from right next to them.

**Bucky** :  _ She is sneaky. I don't like sneaky. _

_ *camera pans out to show Sam standing behind Bucky with a plushie, throwing it suddenly from Bucky's left* _

**Bucky** _ : *immediately tilts to the other side while taking out a knife from nowhere to stab the plushie* _

**Sam** _ : We talked about this! Assess the f****ng target before going 'stab'! *continues in his angry voice* Congratulations! You just killed a plushie! _

"Watching Tony teach Y/N how to drive."

Behind Natasha came the huffing figure of Scott carrying bags on bags in both his hands. They looked at the amount he was carrying compared to the bulk in Natasha's hand.

"No wonder you always keep beating me in training!" Scott huffed and tried to breathe through his words. He dropped the bags and let his body go  _ floomf  _ over them. "You're sooo strong," you heaved, "make me like you,  _ senpai _ ."

"Get off the bags," she stressed, "you'll break the nachos," before turning to the trio with a stern stare, "you fellas really don't have anything to do?"

"We're supporting Y/N," Peter answered, pointing at the car nearly missing the pavement and skidding while making a turn.

But Nat didn't buy it. "What's the bet for?" She finally asked, forcing the trio to look at each other.

"How much time it takes for Tony to lose his cool," Sam admitted, "I'm going for twenty more minutes. Bucky says Tony's already lost his cool. He's just sitting in there crying. Peter thinks he'll last another hour."

The car turned and came towards where all of them sat. Nat took one step back as the vehicle skidded to a halt right next to Peter, the bumper giving him a little bonk on his knees.

The camera shifted to inside the car with three horrified faces trying to find their breaths.

"I told you," you tried but no voice came out of your throat, "I...told...you."

"Okay," Tony breathed, gulping down the horror but still having his hand wrapped around the grab-handle as tightly as humanly possible, "okay. Um...Loki," he announced, "your...turn?"

.

"You bitch," you hissed, "you said you didn't know how to drive!"

The car swerved by the audience effortlessly as they hooted, whistled and cheered.

Loki veered the steering wheel with such professionalism that you cursed him again.

"I swear I didn't!" Loki chuckled with excitement, "this is just so easy and fun!"

"Eyes on the road, Greeny," Tony ordered, but his eyes too were lit and he clearly wasn't holding the handles now, "now show me how you go through those two bars and then back it up."

Loki did what Tony asked, swerving smoothly through the bars, breaking without throwing anyone in the window and, reversing just as smoothly through them.

"Woah!" Tony heard himself saying, "okay now show me that thing Lighting McQueen does in 'Cars'."

Loki scrunched his nose. "The movie we saw last night?"

"Yup!"

"Brace yourselves!"

And saying that, he hit the gas and showed the crowd how to turn right to go left, making Peter and Tony lose their minds in their rush, while Sam landed a 'hot damn!', Bucky and Scott had their jaws dropped. Natasha was the only one not really phased by it.

**Natasha** :  _ *nonchalantly* He can drive. *does a little head tilt* Good for him. _

The vehicle came to a halt near the entrance and you were the first one to get out.

"Hey, Y/N, you did good!" Sam and Nat tried to cheer you up.

"Yeah," was all you said before turning to walk back in.

"Y/N, kid," Tony called out for you, "come on let's give it another shot."

"No, Mr Stark. I think I'm done for the day."

"But we didn't even go about for even an hour. Let's work on your gear shifting without looking at them."

"I don't think that'll hel-"

"We won't know until we try. Come on let's take anoth-"

"I can't!" You nearly shouted, taking everyone by surprise. "I can't Mr Stark! Driving requires me to focus on everything at once and I made  _ not  _ for that! I get distracted so easily. I can't even drive safely on an empty road inside  _ my own home _ what makes you think I could possibly handle an entire vehicle on a busy road?! And believe me when I say I've been told time and again to change this 'habit' of mine. Well, I can't." You shrugged forcefully. "I really can't. That's how I freakin' am. So, sorry you have to deal with a f****d up kid like me."

Ending that, you walked inside, leaving everyone mum- discreetly looking at Tony before walking back in. Everyone except Loki.

Tony looked at the God, giving him a once-over. "The hell you looking at me like that?"

Loki just crossed his arms across his chest, shaking his head, "She can't drive. She clearly doesn't have the confidence and would have to take a lot to create the natural focus required. Just wondering what you're going to do now."

Tony furrowed his brows at Loki. "What d'ya mean what I'll do? I'll find a way to help with whatever's required. It's not her fault she can't focus or is easily distracted. I'll find something to help her with that too."

**Loki** :  _ *looking at an invisible void in the distance* huh. I cannot believe I'm saying this but Stark one hell of a father figure. *Pouring his lips* *scrunching his nose* Is that why all these wayward nuisance of beings choose to live with him? *Looks behind the camera* What? I don't see him as a father figure. All I see him is as a bother figure. Always bothering me any chance he gets. _

_ *camera pans out to show Tony standing beside him leaning on the car* _

**Tony** _ : Would you like me to take you horse-riding? _

**Loki** _ : _

**Tony** _ : *arches his brow and places his head on his fist, watching Loki tenderly* _

**Loki** _ : *not making eye-contact* *softly* that would be great. Thank you _

**Tony** _ : *pats him the back and leaves* Good job today. _

**Loki** _ : *closes eyes* *shakes his head* *moans* Yeah, I already feel weird. _

_. _

**The Dorms**

Tony lightly knocked your door before clicking open a bit and asking if he could come in.

The camera tried to follow him but Tony closed the door behind it, forcing it to go out to the balcony.

He sat down on the edge of your bed looking at the half-finished sketch of a woman.

"You made this?" He turned to ask your figure lying on your stomach with your head towards the footboard.

You nodded.

"Wow!" He whispered with enthusiasm before his eyes caught something in the corner by the window. "Is that a canvas? You've been painting. On a canvas!"

You shrugged. "It's not that hard. Anyways I'm not that good."

"Why do you think that?" He asked as softly as possible. "Have you seen what you create? This is beautiful!"

"This is half-finished."

"Well, it's better than not being created at all!"

You blinked, and a lone tear left your eye to directly vanish in the sheets under you.

"I'm scared," your broken voice declared in a whisper.

"Of what?"

"Of not being able to drive safely. I can hardly focus on what gear to shift while having to quickly judge what pedal to hit. How am I ever supposed to drive when all my senses aren't in the car with me?"

"Hey," he stressed softly, brushing your hair away, "we'll figure it out. And it was just the first day. You already learned which gears are what. And you were really nailing those brakes."

You both giggled.

"There's nothing you cannot do," Tony assured you, his eyes giving you a soft yet stern look, "now stop beating yourself up, get out of these stinky bedsheets and go make sure Peter and Bucky don't burn up my kitchen to figure out your cupcake recipe."

You chortled and Tony looked at you like you were the most precious thing in the world right now.

"Wow," Loki's voice came from the opposite corner of the room where he stood with arms crossed ever so casually, "you two really are boring. And cringy."

Tony and you gasped and threw a pillow each at him.

"Get out!" You both said in unison.

.

**The Lounge**

"You are such a sore loser."

You tilted your head and arched your brows at Loki.

"It wasn't a competition, Loki."

He simply shrugged and popped a grape in his mouth. "Something a loser would say."

"Whatever, man," you muttered, shooing him away as you went towards a very confused Peter hanging down from the ceiling to find out what Bucky was trying to cook.

"Wait." You heard Loki say after you felt a soothing coolness grab your hand lightly, making you turn back to him.

"Hmm?"

"There's-" he looked around to see if anyone was listening- clearly ignoring the camera- before coming back to you, "a thing. I need to learn how to paint. I've heard you're a really good artist. And clearly, I'm not. So, would you help me?"

**You** :  _ This guy *a smirk lies at the corner of your lips* has the weirdest ways of saying 'I'm sorry, Y/N. I wish I could make your day better'. *nods* *raises shoulders* *bites lips* usually he does. _

"Hmm," you pretended to think, "I don't know. Let me just show off my artist skills around a little bit and then I'll start teaching you."

"Oh, you think I'm-I'm trying to make you feel better? Don't make false assumptions, woman!"

"Din meek fils issimtion wimin," you teased him with your scrunched nose, right before Tony walked through the two of you.

"Five-second rule," he announced as your hands parted for Tony to go ahead and he slipped something over Loki's wrist.

"What's this?" Loki looked at the green bracelet that clicked shut over his wrist and did not come undone no matter what he tried.

"Just something to stop you from jumping in rooms unannounced," Tony responded, waving at him as he went away with a happy gait.

"Y/N," Natasha called out from the kitchenette, "you better take over before these boys make something everyone's gonna regret. And no one eats it before midnight!"

“Stark, get me out of this!”

.

**Outside The Library**

You walked with the camera following you out of the library, running right into Loki.

"Hey, have you seen Mr Stark?"

"No," Loki shook his head, "I rarely look at things I find unappealing."

"I made something for Nat, but I want his opinion on it. Come on," you pressed, taking his hand and pushing him away from the library and towards the lab.

"Stark's opinion? I'm sure Gordon Ramsay would be a better choice than him."

"I'm surprised you know who that is."

"Of course, I know who that is. Everyone fears him. I respect that. And he seems to have a cult!"

You sighed and turned the corner. "He has followers, not a cult. Like fans."

"What's the difference?"

"W-" and you found yourself short of an explanation, glad you were already by the lab's doors.

"Let's just concentrate on you making friends first, okay," you said in your best sarcastic tone, swinging open the door to watch Tony in the middle of the lab, going for the very familiar Pandora's box. The thing similar to the one that had teleported you to another planet.

Everything happened at once in front of the camera.

"DAD, NO!"

The small bag you'd been carrying in your hand fell down on the ground as you ran towards Tony. A shriek left your lungs as you forced him away from the familiar light that came out of the box. Loki was already trying to shield Javier behind the camera while trying to get you away from the path. Tony was not aware of what was happening until he was touching the floor.

And the next second everything disappeared.

The cameras in the lab caught Tony on the ground trying to get up, looking for you.

"Y/N?" He shouted out for you.

"Loki!" He commanded, getting up- not so gracefully- on his feet.

"Javier!" He begged, only to see Bruce, Natasha and Peter rush in from the doors.

"They're gone, Mr Stark," Friday's voice echoed through the silence of the lab, as the man tried to count his breaths while the others rushed to help him.

.

**Unknown Place**

The camera was blurry. A few sounds came from a distance before the lens shook and was wiped off where it lay- in the desert. It focused on two figures lying just a few feet away.

Javier's figure came in front as he tried to shake up one of them. And just as he did, Loki stirred, grunted and got up with a little difficulty.

Javier tapped his shoulder to get his attention away from his strange surroundings to your unconscious figure lying next to him.

"Y/N," he called out for you tenderly, his eyes scanning for any wounds on your arms or face. "Y/N, wake up," he gently tapped your cheeks and arms. "Y/N," he mildly shook you in vain.

"Y/N STARK!!" he shouted, giving you a good shake, making you get up with a scream.

"What the hell, Loki?!!"

"Come on," he commanded more than requested, taking your arms and helping you stand up.

"W-where are we?"

Javier went out of the frame and the camera was lifted up from the ground to show the barren land you and Loki were looking out to. Shades of yellow went till the horizon with curled up black tree-like structures at various intervals.

"I don't know," Loki sighed, his eyes taking in everything.

You turned around, the camera catching you walk over the rough ground outside the frame. "It's certainly not Earth. I haven't been to this...place before. We must stay close. Javier, do not leave my sight."

"Uhh...Loki?"

"Of course, you too, Y/N."

"No, Loki," you continued, the camera catching your concerned gaze as your hand pointed at something, "look."

The camera turned to face down the little hill that you three stood on to capture a battalion of aliens standing in prime formation at attention. Scales of iridescent gold and brown marked the skin on their shoulders and limbs, claws for hands and feet and a wolf-like face covered in warrior helmets.

"Yeah, suddenly I've started appreciating that old planet-thing I was trapped on," you mentioned, your voice breaking with fear. "You can teleport us back, right?"

"Ye-"

Both you and the camera turned to look at Loki, who was looking down at the amulet on his wrist.

"Stark," he sighed.

"Shit," you cursed, "sorry."

A blowhorn sounded down the hills throughout the valley, making you jump close to Loki, catching the fabric of his Henley from the elbow with your fingers.

"Okay, I've seen The Lord of The Rings enough times to know this is  _ not  _ good!" You nearly shouted with fear.

And just as you uttered those words, the clanking of armour sounded close to you, coming up the hill.

Three of those alien warriors came up, their march quite in unison as the taller, bulkier one walked ahead of the two who seemed to be accompanying him.

The camera stepped farther away as the creatures stepped closer while you tried to be brave yet took a step back so as to let Loki shadow you partially.

The stomps of threatening footsteps stopped nearly seven feet away from you. The stench of something eerie filled the air.

The two aliens at the back stabbed the ground with their metallic staffs, creating a gust of wind along with an incoherent vibrating echo.

The leader stepped forward towards you three, his gait slow and measured, his eyes shining a concentrated mix of purple. You shifted on your feet. Loki didn't.

He stopped right in front of Loki, standing at least two feet taller than him.

"Loki," came a low-pitched growl from the jaw that opened to reveal more fangs inside, "ward of Odin. Son of Laufey. Saviour of Asgard-"

"You could save the titles. It'll take you an entire day to get over half of them," Loki declared without skipping a beat.

The creature paused before taking out his sword from its sheath, making you step back.

"Loki, master of the Nubrath!" The leader spoke again, this time while holding his sword in both his...claws and raising it to the God. "Your army is ready."

The blowhorn sounded again.

"We're all prepared to take over the earth under your rule."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the season finale. It's The Avengers will go on a hiatus till someone starts cursing me with a good work-life that allows me to write more frequently, with better content and the opportunity to visit places and be inspired by them.


End file.
